Oshie, Carlson help Capitals hand Rangers third straight loss

WASHINGTON -- T.J. Oshie scored two goals, John Carlson had three assists, and the Washington Capitals defeated the New York Rangers 5-2 at Capital One Arena on Friday.

Michal Kempny scored in his season debut for the Capitals (5-2-2) after missing eight games because of a hamstring injury, Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway also scored, and Braden Holtby made 26 saves for Washington, which won its second game in a row and is 2-1-2 at home.
"That was something that we wanted to get better at and improve and something that we addressed as a group," coach Todd Reirden said of Washington's play at home. "I really liked how it was a big team win today for us for a number of different reasons. Tonight was significant."
WATCH: [All Rangers vs. Capitals highlights]
Pavel Buchnevich and Artemi Panarin scored for the Rangers (2-3-0), who have lost three straight games. Mika Zibanejad had two assists, and Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves for New York, which lost 5-2 at the New Jersey Devils on Thursday after four days off.
"I'm sure that's a little piece of it, but you've got to learn to play tired," Rangers coach David Quinn said of playing the second of back-to-back games. "When you don't have it, you have to just be structurally sound and let the game happen. Don't have to run around thinking you're going to force it. We were forcing things all over the rink tonight."
The Capitals made it 1-0 with a power-play goal at 2:24 of the first period when Oshie knocked his own rebound over Lundqvist's pad and Rangers defenseman Marc Staal inadvertently kicked the puck into the net.

"He's got incredible stick skills and hand-eye coordination and the guy's not scared of anything, so he'll take a beating, stand in there," Holtby said of Oshie. "Sometimes when you have John [Carlson] and [Alex Ovechkin] up there, the puck can go wild too, and he just stands right in there and doesn't even flinch."
Washington was 2-for-4 on the power play. New York was 1-for-4.
"We were so close and doing a lot of things pretty well 5-on-5, getting pucks to the net, crashing the net," Rangers forward Chris Kreider said. "It came down to special teams, and that team is very good at special teams. You can't take penalties against that team."
Buchnevich tied it 1-1 on the power play at 12:25 when he took a centering pass from Zibanejad, deked Holtby and scored from a sharp angle.

Kempny knocked in a rebound at 15:16 to give Washington a 2-1 lead.
"Great shot by [Carlson], great job by [Ovechkin] battling up there," Kempny said. "I just grabbed the puck and there was open net, so a little lucky for me."
The Capitals increased the lead to 3-1 at 3:45 of the second period when Dmitry Orlov hit the post and Dowd scored on the rebound.
Lundqvist made the save on Jakub Vrana's penalty shot at 10:16 and stopped Orlov on a breakaway at 14:43.
Panarin pulled New York within 3-2 when he scored on a give-and-go with Kreider with 3:04 left in the period.

Oshie deflected Carlson's shot from the point for a power-play goal at 10:18 of the third period to make it 4-2.
"That's a dangerous situation that you're a mistake away from making it a real competitive game," Reirden said, "and that was a time for us to really convert on the power play."
Hathaway scored into an empty net with 28 seconds remaining for the 5-2 final.

They said it

"I think special teams played some part of it, but from my end of it, it was just how bad we were defensively. Just the glaring chances we gave up, the number of glaring chances we gave up, the turnovers, the lack of urgency in the D-zone, that's where all our troubles started." -- Rangers coach David Quinn
"It's something we've been kind of talking about. I think we've improved on it. When we get leads, trying to hold them in the third period and keep our momentum. That's important, especially in your own barn." -- Capitals forward T.J. Oshie

Need to know

Lundqvist tied Gump Worsley for 11th in games played among NHL goalies (860). … Zibanejad has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in five games. … Carlson had a second straight three-point game for the second time in his NHL career. He did it Dec. 5-7, 2011, against the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators. Carlson is tied with Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid for the NHL points lead with 17 (three goals, 14 assists). He has 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) during a six-game point streak. Carlson is also the first defenseman in Capitals history to have at least 15 points in October. … Washington center Nicklas Backstrom had an assist on Oshie's second goal and tied Daniel Sedin for fifth in NHL history among Sweden-born players (648).

What's next

Rangers: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday (1 p.m. ET; SN, MSG, NHL.TV)
Capitals: At the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSCH, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)