Rangers finish off sweep of the Capitals, move on to the 2nd round of the NHL playoffs

WASHINGTON (AP) — Not playing their best hockey against an opponent full of desperation, the New York Rangers relied on a familiar recipe to move on in the NHL playoffs.

Artemi Panarin scored the go-ahead goal on the power play early in the third period, Igor Shesterkin made 23 saves and the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers finished off a sweep of the Washington Capitals with a 4-2 victory in Game 4 on Sunday night to advance to the second round.

“The things that we’ve done in the regular season over 82 games is something that we continue to do,” center Mika Zibanejad said. “We’ve been building toward this, and I still think we can be better, but a great, hard-fought series and it’s nice (to get) a win.”