Will Cuylle hat trick paces Rangers to 8-1 blowout win over Capitals: takeaways
For the second straight game this weekend, the New York Rangers thoroughly outplayed an opponent supposedly playing for its playoff life Sunday, smoking the Washington Capitals 8-1 at Madison Square Garden. This one followed a similar dismantling of the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, a 4-1 Rangers victory . Both the Capitals and Red Wings are just outside the playoff cut line in the Eastern Conference , and had zero luck picking up ground in the standings against a Rangers team that was eliminated from playoff contention weeks ago.
One day after Gabe Perreault’s first NHL hat trick, Will Cuylle recorded his first hatty to lead the Rangers (33-36-9), who’ve won five of six games with one more to play on their current seven-game homestand. Will Cuylle completes the hat trick in an 8-1 BLOWOUT of the Washington Capitals 👀🎩 pic. twitter.
com/LhalC9HCfB — Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) April 6, 2026 Cuylle, Adam Fox (one goal, two assists), and Mika Zibanejad (three assists) each had three points, most among the 14 New York skaters who landed on the score sheet Sunday. The Rangers scored on the first shift of the night, Conor Sheary buried his own rebound after he deflected Fox’s shot towards Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren just 23 seconds after the opening puck drop. Connor McMichael did answer back at 13:45 for the Capitals, scoring on a breakaway with a forehand finish past Igor Shesterkin , who finished with 20 saves in this one.
But the Rangers ran the Capitals out of the building in the second period, scoring five goals on 15 shots, with contributions coming up and down the lineup. Washington became its own worst enemy after the fairly evenly-played first period, when each team recorded seven shots on goal. The Capitals took consecutive delay of game penalties — at 19:02 of the first period and 1:09 of the second.
Though denied on their first power play, the Rangers carried momentum into their second chance, and cashed in at 3:07. Standing by the blue paint, J. T.
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