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 The St. Louis Blues got a key win because of it.
Oshie scored two goals in a span of 1:31 in the second period to
lead the Blues to a 5-0 win Thursday night over the Los Angeles
Kings.
The performance came in front of Brian Burke, the director of player
personnel for Team USA, who was watching the game from the press
box.
"He's putting on a show," Burke said at the second intermission.
"He's got two goals, he's won a couple of key faceoffs ... killing
penalties. He's a real Swiss Army knife as a player. He does just
about everything well. I think he's excited about being named to the
team.
"The coaches felt very strongly that they wanted him on the team. So
it wasn't just the management committee that selected the team. They
felt very strongly that he should be on the team."
Oshie's teammates, two of which — center David Backes and
defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk — will join him on the U.S. team,
could not help but kid Oshie in reminding him that the team
auditions were over.
"That's what Stewie (right winger Chris Stewart) told me after the
second period," Oshie said. "It was a great night."
The win was what was more important to the Blues, who have struggled
for two years against the Kings, the team that knocked them out of
the playoffs the last two seasons. The Blues lost five consecutive
regular-season games against Los Angeles and defeated them only
three times in 18 games since the start of the 2011 season.
"This team is scary to play against with only a one goal lead,"
Oshie said. "When they get some momentum they have four lines coming
at you pretty hard. We've had some tough games against these guys
and they've given it to us and made us look like little kids out
there. To get that big one tonight was good for the guys in the room
to know that we can beat those guys. And we are going to have to
beat the when it comes down to it."
The Kings are having trouble beating anybody right now. They lost
their fifth consecutive game, their longest losing streak of the
season, and were shut out for the second time in their last three
games.
"We played bad," said Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty. "We need
to turn it around. We're down on ourselves, but we can't be. We need
to pick ourselves up. We need to get that confidence back. When our
team is playing with confidence, we're an amazing team. We've got to
remember that. We're playing like we're scared out there. We're
scared to try things. We're scared to do the right things. That's
why we're losing. That's why we got smoked, tonight."
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"Anytime you're losing five games in a row, it's going to be
tough," Kings right winger Dustin Brown said. "It's how you
respond. It's easy when things are going right, you're getting
the bounces, it's easy to sit there and play. It's time like
this when we really need to step up and play our game. Tonight,
we didn't do it."
After the Blues took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a
power-play goal by left winger Brenden Morrow, Oshie scored his
two quick goals to take some of the pressure off goaltender
Brian Elliott, who stopped all 30 Los Angeles shots in earning
his third shutout of the season.
Oshie, who had not scored two goals in a game in the regular
season since Dec. 8, 2011, scored on a power play at 11:41 of
the second period off a rebound and added his second goal off a
faceoff at 13:12.
It also was a good night for Elliott, who came within nine
seconds of a shutout in his last game Tuesday night in
Minnesota. He raised his record to 11-1-2 for the season with
his 12th consecutive home win, a franchise record.
"It's good to get a win and to get a win like that was key for
us," Elliott said.
St. Louis left winger Jaden Schwartz, who earned an assist on
Oshie's first goal, failed to score a goal for the first time in
seven games. Right winger Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman
Barret Jackman added third-period goals.
The win was the 100th behind the Blues bench for Ken Hitchcock
and marked the first win for St. Louis in six games against
teams from California this season.
NOTES: The Blues activated RW Ryan Reaves from injured reserve.
Reaves has been out since Nov. 23 because of a broken right
hand. ... The Blues also recalled G Jake Allen from their
Chicago affiliate in the AHL to serve as G Brian Elliott's
backup because G Jaroslav Halak is battling the flu. ... Los
Angeles G Jonathan Quick, who has been out since Nov. 12 because
of a groin injury, is traveling with the Kings on their road
trip and is listed as day to day. ... The game against the Blues
ended a four-game road trip for the Kings, who return home for
their next five games, hosting the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday
night. ... The Blues will host the Columbus Blue Jackets on
Saturday night in their next game.
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