Rangers cruise past Capitals, gain in Metropolitan race

WASHINGTON --Artemi Panarinhad three assists for the New York Rangers, who gained ground in the Metropolitan Division with a 5-2 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Sunday.

K'Andre Miller had a goal and an assist, Vincent Trocheck had two assists, and Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves for the Rangers (45-21-11), who are 4-1-1 in their past six games.
New York moved three points back of the New Jersey Devils for second in the Metropolitan. New Jersey lost 6-1 to the Winnipeg Jets later on Sunday.
"It's awesome," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said about reaching 100 points. "It means you had a good season, but it doesn't mean anything in two weeks' time. You start all over again and try and win. No, it's good. We've had two good years in a row and just want to keep getting better."
Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas scored, and John Carlson had two assists for the Capitals (34-34-9), who have lost seven of eight (1-5-2). Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves.
Washington fell nine points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"We have a responsibility to do our job and do it well," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "Today we didn't do it well enough. We haven't done it well enough and] we sit in the position that we sit in. It's of our own doing where we're at right now, and we can be better. We can better than we were today."
Miller gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 13:17 of the first period, scoring with a backhand past a lunging Kuemper after the goalie couldn't control a soft backhand attempt from Trocheck.
[Alexis Lafreniere
made it 2-0 at 15:19 when he received a drop pass from Filip Chytil, slid the puck between his skates to evade defenseman Rasmus Sandin and scored with a backhand from the slot.
"Good play by 'Fil' there, and I had a lot of time, so I tried to make a move and it worked," Lafreniere said. "It was good to score one."

Kaapo Kakko extended the lead to 3-0 at 1:00 of the second period with a one-timer from in front that deflected in off the skate of Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary.
The Rangers are 20-0-2 this season when each member of "The Kid Line," Chytil, Kakko and Lafreniere, gets a point.
"They've been unreal this year," Miller said. "This back half they've been really good. Just how they possess the puck and really work teams down in that O-zone. … They're a hard line to play against, and they show why they're all having the years they're having."
Strome pulled the Capitals to within 3-1 at 13:23. He caught Shesterkin leaning and scored from below the goal line with a shot off the goalie's right leg.
"Obviously, our starts haven't been good," Strome said. "It feels like we're down 2-0, 3-0 every game. (We) got to find a way to start better and not be chasing the game. The game's a lot easier when you've got the lead, so we've got to find a way to change that."
Vladimir Tarasenko pushed it to 4-1 at 5:53 of the third period with a wrist shot glove side from the left circle on a rush.

Protas cut it to 4-2 at 11:44 during a scramble in front, but Mika Zibanejad made it 5-2 at 14:14 with a power-play goal off a cross-ice pass from Panarin.
NOTES:New York is 31-0-0 when scoring at least four goals. … Carlson has five points (one goal, four assists) in five games since returning to the lineup on March 23. The defenseman missed 36 games because of a skull fracture and laceration of the temporal artery.