Before T.J. Oshie was a Washington Capital he rocked the red white & blue.
Happy Fourth of July Washington Capitals fans! No better way to celebrate today than to look back on one of the greatest moments of an American hero’s career. T.J. Oshie was already beloved before he was a Capital. Five years ago almost to the day the Caps made the biggest trade in franchise history, acquiring Oshie from the St. Louis Blues.
He’s since suited up for over 800 games. But his greatest game came when he was a young Olympian in the 2014 Sochi games.
He first went up against Sergei Bobrovsky and scored. Evgeni Malkin shot and missed and USA had the 1-0 lead on Russia in the shootout.
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After that it was James van Riemsdyk but this time Bobrovsky regrouped and made the save. For Russia, Pavel Datsyuk went up next but was stopped by a glove save by Jonathan Quick. Joe Pavelski went up next with a chance to win it but was denied by Bobrovsky.
Ilya Kovalchuk went up next and scored to get Team Russia on the board in the shootout and extend the extra time. Kovalchuk went again but this time Quick got a piece of it. Then it was Oshie’s turn but this time he was stopped by Bobrovsky.
Datsyuk scored to put Russia ahead. Oshie went up and redeemed himself by scoring on a shot that went between Bobrovsky’s legs. Russia went with Kovalchuk again and he scored. Crazy these guys are teammates now.
Oshie went up again and was all smiles and he scored off a silky move that went top shelf. Quick stopped Datsyuk on the other end. Guess who USA used again, T.J. Oshie.
This time he missed on the backhanded attempt and time. extended. Quick stopped Kovalchuk on the other end. Oshie went up again and he delivered with the game-winning, shootout winning goal.
Oshie reflected on that moment four years later in an interview with TwinCities.com. Oshie said, “I imagined with how many good players we had on the team, especially in the shootout, that maybe they’d go away from me after I missed once or twice. Coach (Dan) Bylsma kept going with it. And I had a lot of help back there from (goaltender Jonathan Quick).”
Oshie also talked about the moment as the highlight of his career. He has since shined while representing our nation’s capital.