New York Rangers beat the Washington Capitals to advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs, according to an official source.
The New York Rangers and new coach Peter Laviolette have already had more playoff success than last season’s team. With a 4-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Sunday night, the Rangers became the first NHL team to advance to the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, ending their first-round series.
Vincent Trocheck, Artemi Panarin and Jack Roslovic scored power-play goals and the Rangers won a playoff series for the first time since 2007. After being knocked out in the first round by the New Jersey Devils last season, the Rangers fired coach Gerard Gallant. Laviolette led the team to a franchise-record 114 points and the best record in the league.
Winners of the President’s Trophy often don’t have much success in the playoffs (last season’s record-setting Boston Bruins were stunned in the first round), but the Rangers have looked good so far in the postseason.
New York ranked third on the power play and penalty kill in the regular season and continued that success in the game against the Capitals. In that series, the Rangers scored six power play goals and two shorthanded goals. On the third power play, the Rangers fended off all six of the Capitals’ power plays, and the Rangers led 2-2 in Game 4.
With 10 players scoring points in the series, the Rangers showed the depth of their roster. The team kept Capitals star Alex Ovechkin away from the net and limited them to just one shot on goal in Games 1 and 4 and one shot in Game 2.
So what’s coming up next for the New York Rangers?
They will meet the winner of the Carolina Hurricanes-New York Islanders series. The Hurricanes lead the series 3-1, while the Islanders stayed alive thanks to a 3-2 win in double overtime on Saturday. Game 5 will be played on Tuesday in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Rangers beat the Hurricanes 2-1 and the Islanders 3-1 in the regular season. Laviolette previously coached both of those teams as well as the Capitals.
What lies ahead for the Washington Capitals?
Spencer Carbery replaced Laviolette as coach in the offseason and led the Capitals to the playoffs after a one-year absence. In the final game of the regular season, the Capitals won the regular season, but after finishing 28th in the regular season, they need to bolster their offense.
In fact, the team still has a core lineup of second scorer Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, T.J. Oshie and defenseman John Carlson, but Niklas Bäckström (injury) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (trade) are out. The leading scorer, Dylan Strome, is signed for four more years. Forwards Max Pacioretty and Nicolas Aube-Kubel will become unrestricted free agents.
Reserve goalie Charlie Lindgren replaced Darcy Kuemper as the No. 1 goalie and has one year left on his contract at a $1.1 million salary. He has contract extension rights after July 1. High-speed Hendricks Lapierre has one more year left on his entry-level contract. Connor McMichael and Beck Malenstyn are restricted free agents.
