Oshie scores hat trick after death of father, Capitals defeat Rangers

NEW YORK --T.J. Oshie scored a hat trick the day after the death of his father, and the Washington Capitals defeated the New York Rangers 4-2 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Oshie returned to the Capitals after he missed a 6-3 win against the Rangers here Monday. His father, Tim, died Tuesday. He was 56.
The Capitals honored Oshie's father by wearing circular black stickers with "COACH" in white lettering on their helmets. Tim Oshie went by the nickname "Coach."
"Pretty spectacular," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. "To go through what he went through and to want to be back here, get with his teammates and play and to play a game for 'Coach,' and the game that he played, outstanding. It says a lot about him and what he means to this team."
Dmitry Orlov had three assists, and Vitek Vanecek made 19 saves for the Capitals (34-14-5), who are tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for first place in the MassMutual East Division. Washington has played one fewer game.
The Capitals played without forward Alex Ovechkin because of a lower-body injury. He has missed five of the past six games and played one shift Monday.
Morgan Barron scored his first NHL goal for the Rangers (26-22-6), who have lost four in a row. Alexandar Georgiev made 31 saves.

The Rangers learned prior to the game that president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton had been fired, replaced by Chris Drury, who is taking over as New York president and GM.
"We had normal meetings this morning, and then obviously word got out what had happened," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "I've got so much respect for Jeff and 'JD'. It's sad, but unfortunately, it's a tough part of sports. Everybody here feels for them. That being said, it's an unbelievable opportunity for Chris, and we'll do everything to support him. It's been a tough day, but it's the unfortunate part of sports."
Oshie gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 12 seconds into the second period, then made it 2-0 with another power-play goal at 8:26.
Nic Dowd scored on a deflection to give Washington a 3-0 lead at 14:48.

Alexis Lafreniere
scored from the right circle to make it 3-1 at 1:15 of the third period.
Oshie completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal at 18:20 to make it 4-1.
Barron scored at 18:44 for the 4-2 final.
"I saw he got emotional there at the end, which was understandable," Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom said of Oshie. "I felt like he needed a hug. I told him like, 'You are the strongest person I know.'
"First of all, it's impressive that he actually played today and how he led the way. It's got to be so tough. I can only imagine. We are a family. We are in this together. His loss is everyone's loss. We feel for him."
The teams combined for 72 penalty minutes in the first 4:14 of the game. Each team had six fighting majors, including three apiece directly after the opening face-off and one for Capitals forward Tom Wilson at 50 seconds.
Wilson was challenged by and fought Rangers defenseman Brendan Smith.
"I had no beef with anyone else on their team," Smith said. "It had to be on my shoulders, and I thought I took it."
Wilson was fined $5,000 by the NHL Department of Player Safety for roughing New York forward Pavel Buchnevich on Monday. Rangers forward Artemi Panarin is out for the season after he was injured during that sequence of events.
"When your star player gets tossed around like that, I mean, it doesn't matter what type of team you have, I think the response was appropriate," Rangers center Ryan Strome said. "Proud of our guys. I think it says a lot about us."
Wilson also received a 10-minute misconduct at 15:56 of the first Wednesday. He did not return because of an upper-body injury. Laviolette said Wilson should be fine.
Buchnevich was assessed a five-minute major for cross-checking and a game misconduct at 4:39 of the second period.
The teams combined for 27 penalties totaling 141 minutes.
"This is the game that was dealt to us," Laviolette said. "I thought our guys responded well. We were disciplined. There's things that you have to do out there and I thought we did it, we kept our cool, won the game."
NOTES: Oshie had a game-high seven shots on goal and won eight of 10 face-offs. … The Rangers finished 14-11-3 at home. They have had a .500 or better points percentage at home for 16 straight seasons, tied for the longest streak in their history (1926-42). … The Capitals played their second straight game without center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who was scratched Monday because of team disciplinary reasons and was placed on the NHL COVID-19 protocol list Tuesday. … The Capitals played with 17 skaters. Forward Daniel Sprong was a late scratch because of a non-COVID related illness.