As of Saturday night, Caps forward TJ Oshie has 13 goals to his name, which even more impressive when you realize he missed 7 games to injury.
A collision with Ottawa’s Dion Phaneuf put Oshie’s season at risk again, but Oshie has powered through.
Photo: Geoff Burke
Tom Wilson is now in his third full NHL season. He was supposed to be bruising power forward and a complement to top-six playmakers. Instead, the 16th overall pick in 2012 has been a fourth line agitator almost his entire career, fighting and hitting to try to get himself noticed in limited ice time.
On Saturday night, that almost cost the Capitals the game as Wilson, recently demoted back down to the bottom trio, took a double minor for roughing that put his team a man down late in the game. The Maple Leafs scored on the power play that followed, giving themselves a 2-1 lead that would gotten them the victory if not for a stunning goal by Nicklas Backstrom with less than a second left.
“When emotions get tied into close games, that’s how you don’t play,” Barry Trotz said of Wilson’s tomfoolery. “That’s why Tom never saw the ice again. He knows that and hopefully he learns from that.”
By Chris Gordon 8 years ago
We’ve been through this. Alex Ovechkin is half man, half machine. Hence: our blog name. Yet, in the highlights below, Dion Phaneuf thought it was a good idea to slash Ovechkin after the whistle.
No. It was not.
Midway through the second period, Washington Capitals defenseman John Erskine had a dust-up with Dion Phaneuf after a stoppage in play. Erskine, who clearly wanted to fight, was held back by linesman Mark Shewchyk. Unfortunately for Shewchyk, a wayward Erskine fist didn’t quite reach Phaneuf’s face, landing instead on the linesman’s chin.
