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>\n\u201cThere\u2019s no easy games, but obviously teams that have that sense of desperation and really something to play for, I think, shows that we haven\u2019t really gave up on the year and packed it in,\u201d said Adam Fox, who, along with Will Cuylle and Mika Zibanejad, led the Rangers with three points. \u201cLike we said, we\u2019re still trying to build on something and gain momentum and establish something here that we can take positively into the summer and build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s great to see.\u201d<\/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
I think the group\u2019s done a great job since the break of just being focused, trying to come out and compete and just play hard and try and build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s win was their fifth in the past six games. 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. They\u2019re fighting \u2014 literally and figuratively \u2014 for the Rangers crest and for each other.<\/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
Cuylle posted his first career hat trick and 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
In addition to Cuylle, Tye Kartye and Noah Laba also dropped their gloves during the contentious matchup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to have it in a game like today where we had a full 60-minute effort from everyone, everyone contributing,\u201d Cuylle said. \u201cI\u2019m just happy with the result.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conor Sheary may have had the slowest start of any Ranger, but he\u2019s finishing strong.<\/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
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 was Sheary\u2019s third goal in the past five games and 17th point through 58 games.<\/p>\n
The Rangers simply owned the second period.<\/p>\n
More than doubling Washington\u2019s shots on goal in the middle frame, 16-7, the<\/p>\n
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The home team exploded for five goals in the second period. Two scores on the power play bookended the surge, with J.T. Miller registering his 17th goal of the season before Fox capped the lopsided period.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think our guys have something to play for, and that\u2019s how they\u2019re approaching it,\u201d head coach Mike Sullivan said. \u201cWe\u2019re playing some pretty good teams that have a lot at stake. I think we beat some pretty good teams lately. I think that\u2019s just a testament to how hard our players are competing out there. I think we\u2019re trying to build a team game and we\u2019re trying to stack some wins on top of each other where we can continue to define, refine what Rangers hockey looks like.\u201d<\/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":186748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,541,539,319,1055],"class_list":{"0":"post-186747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-headlines","10":"tag-new-york-news","11":"tag-new-york-rangers","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-washington-capitals"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}