NHL Scores: T.J. Oshie’s hat trick for dad, MSG Fight Fest, Jets clinch, and more
Anthony Scultore
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The story of the night was T.J. Oshie scoring a hat-trick for his dad. It was an emotional day for the Capitals forward who had just laid his father to rest the day before. His teammates honored his father, affectionately known as “Coach”, with helmet stickers. Oshie then went out and scored three goals to help his Caps beat the Rangers 4-2.
T.J. Oshie hat trick for dad
An emotionally visible Oshie was held by teammates in the end. Niklas Backstrom hugged him and said, “you’re the strongest person I know.” After the game, Oshie was not available for comment but his head coach had some thoughts.
“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,” Peter Laviolette said. “It says a lot about him and what he means to this team.”
MSG Fight Fest for Capitals and Rangers
It was a wild day at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Scratch that. It’s been a wild three days that started with Tom Wilson going batshit crazy on Rangers star players which eventually led to a season-ending body slam of Artemi Panarin. The matter was made worse when the NHL DoPS only fined Wilson, which led to the Rangers owner, James Dolan to releases a statement asking for George Parros to step down.
Oh wait, you thought I was finished.
Yesterday, Dolan fired both his President and General Manager. A move that had league executives texting some reporters with “HOLY S**T!”. Ownership claimed that the dismissals were solely performance based but since both John Davidson and Jeff Gorton wanted nothing to do with the statement, many feel that it still played a role.
By the way, there was still a game to be played with retribution in the mind of every guy in a blue jersey.
The game started with a line brawl. Next, Brendan Smith went straight after Tom Wilson on his first shift. That was followed by Ryan Strome fighting Lars Ellers, and capped by Anthony Bitetto and Michael Raffl. Six fights before five minutes were even played. The league needs to own the debacle that looked like it came out of the movie Youngblood.
Chippy played continued for the remainder of the period. Tom Wilson was removed from the game with an upper-body injury to start the second period which calmed things down. However, another potentially suspendible incident occurred when Pavel Buchnevich high-sticked Anthony Mantha right in the face. He was kicked out of the game and may get a call from George Parros who met with both teams before last night’s contest. Obviously that didn’t have the desired effect.
Winnipeg Jets clinch
Just in case you were wondering, there were other hockey games played last night too.
The Winnipeg Jets finally broke their losing streak and clinched a playoff spot in the process. In defeating the Flames 4-0 thanks to Connor Hellebuyck’s 32 stops they secured a postseason berth. Blake Wheeler and Adam Lowry each scored twice to secure the win.
“All you’re looking for when you start the season is an opportunity,” said Wheeler, the Jets captain. “Anything can happen now. It was nice for everyone to get a result tonight. Our game has been way better the last few games. It was really important for our team to get rewarded. It was a good result for us tonight.”
NHL.com
Meanwhile, the Senators beat the Canadiens by a 5-1 score. That keeps the Flames on life support for now.
West and Central Action
The St. Louis failed to clinch a playoff spot last night but get a step closer with the Coyotes 4-2 loss to the Kings. Anthony Stolarz was the hero for the Ducks who beat the Blues in a shootout 3-2. However, it was an emotional return and goodbye for longtime Blue, David Backes. He will retire at the end of the season.
In other West action, the Golden Knights knocked off the Wild 3-2 in OT. Vegas increases their hold on first over Colorado to four points. The Avs fell to the Sharks 3-2 yesterday.
Finally in the Central, Elvis Merzlikins beat the red-hot Predators 4-2. The Nashville loss keeps the Stars alive in the last spot race as they lost to the Lightning 6-2.