The Rangers hadn’t played against the Capitals since their season-opening drubbing in Washington on Oct. 13 — a defeat that now feels like a distant memory.
All the strides the Rangers have taken in the 134 days since that opener were on full display Thursday night, when they routed the Capitals 4-1 at the Garden and leapfrogged the Penguins into second place in the Metropolitan Division in the process.
In the first of 17 remaining division matchups on the Rangers’ schedule, the top line of Mika Zibanejad, Alexis Lafreniere and Chris Kreider led the way, with each skater scoring a goal. Both Lafreniere and Zibanejad posted two-point nights, each recording a goal and an assist as the Rangers improved to 33-13-5.
After the Penguins lost to the Devils, the Rangers went from a point behind to a point ahead of Pittsburgh and now trail the first-place Hurricanes by just three points in the division standings.
“We try to say every game is a big game,” said Zibanejad, who opened the scoring at 12:57 of the first period. “But when we haven’t seen that many teams in our division, these are big games. They’re huge. Especially when we haven’t seen them in a while, that’s a good win.”
Kreider netted his 34th goal of the season and Barclay Goodrow scored his first since Jan. 28, in the third period to put the game out of reach.
Goalie Igor Shesterkin, making his seventh straight start and fourth in a row since the All-Star break, turned aside 36 of the 37 shots he faced to pick up his 25th win of the season. Capitals star Alex Ovechkin spoiled Shesterkin’s shutout with just over a minute left in regulation.
The Rangers’ first line not only combined for three goals, but totaled seven shots on net, five blocked shots and two hits from Lafreniere, who has steadily improved with more and more reps on the right wing of that unit. After setting up Zibanejad with a slick drop pass in the first period, Lafreniere redirected a long shot from Ryan Lindgren for the 2-0 lead at 18:48 of the second.
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“He’s played better hockey the last 20 games, for sure,” head coach Gerard Gallant said of Lafreniere. “I really like the way he plays. He competes hard and he wasn’t getting the goals he wanted, but tonight was a big game for him. He’s played better hockey, he’s getting more chances, playing a 200-foot game and that’s what we like.”
The Rangers were solid in the first period, matching the Capitals’ pace and keeping the visitors out of the dangerous areas of the ice. That allowed the Rangers to take a lead after the opening 20 minutes of a game for the first time since the All-Star break.
Lafreniere dropped the puck back to Zibanejad, who unloaded a lethal one-timer for the 1-0 score at 12:57 for his 20th goal of the season.
Despite having to kill four penalties — two of which came at the start of a period — the Rangers contained the Capitals for much of the game. They didn’t even need the power play, which has been a major source of their offense this season. Instead, the Rangers got it done at even strength in convincing fashion.
“Would love to score four five-on-five goals every game, but every game is different,” Zibanejad said. “I thought our PK came out big tonight and obviously Shesty in net and the five-on-five play was good. We talked about trying to play a complete 60-minute game and I thought we did that for the most part.”
