Oshie Doesn’t Hold Back, Has Strong Words For Capitals After Loss In Vegas

For T.J. Oshie, the Washington Capitals' loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday was one of the worst showings he's seen from the group in a long time — and he made that clear and didn't shy away from the truth postgame.

The alternate captain, who scored one of the Capitals' two goals, was disappointed with his team's effort from start to finish, as mistakes, sloppy play and a lack of attention to detail eventually led to a 5-0 deficit that took turned into a 6-2 defeat when all was said and done.

"Mentally we were not sharp at all. We play a good team, that’s what happens when you’re mentally not sharp," Oshie said. "It can be nights when maybe your legs aren’t going, you’re not getting bounces, but if you’re still mentally sharp on those days, you’re still playing within our system, you’re playing the correct way, you’re not turning pucks over. We weren’t doing any of those things tonight.”

In addition to that, Oshie shared an ugly truth, as he believes there was a lack of interest in the game for Washington, who dropped to 0-4-1 in its regular season games at T-Mobile Arena.

"That’s probably the worst we’ve played in — I can’t remember how disinterested we’ve looked like we were tonight," Oshie said bluntly. "So bury it and away we go.”

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No. 77 also addressed the absence of Alex Ovechkin, who missed his first game of the season for the Capitals on Saturday as he deals with a day-to-day lower-body injury. Oshie said Washington is no stranger to adversity or stepping up with big guys out, as was the case with Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson earlier this season, along with other key names like Connor Brown, Carl Hagelin and now, Nic Dowd. However, Saturday didn't show the same drive.

"With O not playing, usually you lose a guy like that, it’s kinda next man up. Everyone has to pull a little bit harder on the rope and that wasn’t the case tonight," Oshie explained.

Right now, the Capitals are 25-18-6 and still sit one point out of third in the Metropolitan Division, but they are just three points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second Wild Card spot, and the Florida Panthers and New York Islanders are just five points behind. Pittsburgh can pull within one point of Washington on Sunday with a win over the New Jersey Devils.

Taking that into account, the 36-year-old said that the group has to be better and not let that effort from Saturday linger as the team heads to Colorado to take on the Avalanche before heading home for a key rivalry game with the Penguins on Thursday.

"Hopefully, we can bury this one real deep. We’re not exactly in a super comfortable position where we can have games like this right now," Oshie said, adding, "Hopefully, it was kinda a one-off. We're gonna have to start getting points here.”