The Rangers have mastered the art of the revenge game through just over two months of the season.
Not only have they won all but one contest following their nine losses, but the Blueshirts have yet to succumb to the same team twice, a trend they continued Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden with a 5-1 win over the Capitals.
Each time they’ve faced a team that badly beat them in their previous meeting, the Rangers have bounced back with an indisputable effort.
This four-goal victory against the Capitals came in response to the 4-0 loss the Rangers suffered in Washington this month — their first and only time getting blanked this season.
That was also the first time they had dropped back-to-back games all season, and it spoiled head coach Peter Laviolette’s return to Washington, as well.
So the Rangers took the ice ready to make amends against a division foe once again.
Behind K’Andre Miller’s three-point night, that’s exactly what the Rangers did.
This all without their captain, Jacob Trouba, who exited with an upper-body injury after taking one shift on the penalty kill in the second period.
With both teams returning to game action for the first time since the Christmas break, the first period saw some rusty hockey and just three total high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The Capitals may have struck first on a goal from Anthony Mantha off the rush, but the Rangers did not trail for too long.
A give-and-go sequence between Mika Zibanejad and Miller at the 7:03 mark put the Rangers offense in motion.
Miller tied the game up, 1-1, with a backhanded finish for his sixth goal of the season.
The Rangers earned a power play later in the period, when Ivan Miroschnichenko was called for tripping Zibanejad to negate the Capitals’ remaining 27 seconds with the man advantage.
More than half the power play was wasted, with little to no opportunities, until Vincent Trocheck fed Artemi Panarin in the right faceoff circle.
The star Russian wing then picked the top corner on Capitals goalie Darcy Kuemper with precision for the 2-1 lead.
Forty seconds later, Braden Schneider hopped off the Rangers’ bench, got the puck in the middle of the zone and sent it through traffic right down Broadway.
It was the third goal of the season and the second in the last four games for Schneider.
Miller netted his second of the game from long range before Alexis Lafreniere capped the scoring in the third period.
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