officially eliminated from playoff contention <\/a>over a week and a half ago, but they\u2019ve been playing better hockey and winning more than they have all season long.<\/p>\nSunday\u2019s win counted as their fifth in the past six games. More than that, it marked their largest win of the season.<\/p>\n
The Rangers are playing like a team that\u2019s on the same page.<\/p>\n
The young players have made a world of difference in the lineup and in the locker room.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re fighting \u2014 literally and figuratively \u2014 for the Rangers crest and for each other.<\/p>\n
New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin (L) makes a save on a tipped shot by Washington Capitals left wing Aliaksei Protas (C) in the second period at Madison Square Garden in New York, USA, Sunday, April 05, 2026. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n
While Adam Fox led the Rangers with a goal and two assists, Will Cuylle finished the game one assist shy of a Gordie Howe hat trick. The 24-year-old wing scored two of the Rangers\u2019 five goals in the second period before he dropped the gloves with Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun.<\/p>\n
The team was looking to set him up for the hat trick, but it never came to fruition.<\/p>\n
In addition to Cuylle, Tye Kartye and Noah Laba also dropped their gloves during the contentious matchup.<\/p>\n
Conor Sheary may have had the slowest start of any Ranger, but he\u2019s finishing strong.<\/p>\n
Notching his sixth goal since March 10, the 33-year-old cleaned up a loose puck in front to open the scoring 23 seconds into the game. It counted as Sheary\u2019s third goal in the past five games, as well as his 17th point of the season through his 58 games.<\/p>\n
Conor Sheary (R) scores past Washington Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren in the first period at Madison Square Garden in New York, USA, Sunday, April 05, 2026. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n
Mika Zibanejad and Washington Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun skate for the puck in the first period at Madison Square Garden in New York, USA, Sunday, April 05, 2026. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n
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His line with J.T. Miller and Kartye has been an active unit since coming together 10 games ago.<\/p>\n
According to Natural Stat Trick, the trio has been on the ice for seven Rangers goals and six against. Their 52.08 expected goals percentage during 5-on-5 play indicates a strong offensive presence.<\/p>\n
Sheary, Miller and Kartye were on the ice for the Capitals\u2019 1-1 score at the 13:45 mark of the first period, when Tom Wilson sprung Connor McMichael for a breakaway goal.<\/p>\n
The Rangers, however, owned the second period.<\/p>\n
More than doubling Washington\u2019s shots on goal in the middle frame, 16-7, the home team exploded for five goals. Two scores on the power play bookended the surge, with Miller registering his 17th goal of the season before Adam Fox capped the lopsided period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The saying should go: If you can\u2019t join \u2019em, beat \u2019em. That\u2019s how the Rangers went about their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5114],"tags":[191,5,35,4,43,190,109,5222],"class_list":{"0":"post-543085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-capitals","8":"tag-capitals","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-new-york-rangers","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-washington","14":"tag-washington-capitals","15":"tag-washingtoncapitals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116355402778486606","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}