Miller has 3 points, Rangers ease past Capitals

K'Andre Miller had two goals and an assist to help the New York Rangers defeat the Washington Capitals 5-1 at Madison Square Garden in New York on Wednesday.

“I don’t think I’ve been really playing my best hockey,” Miller said. “Went into the (holiday) break with just some goals of coming out of the break and doing a little bit more. Luckily the puck found me tonight and [I] was able to capitalize.”

Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist, and Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves for the Rangers (24-8-1), who have won five of six. Mika Zibanejad had two assists in his 800th NHL game to extend his point streak to eight games (seven goals, eight assists).

“It’s 800 more than I thought I was going to play when I was a kid," Zibanejad said. "It’s something you only dream of, even just playing one game, and you get the opportunity to do so for that many years. It’s always fun to have those milestones, but it makes it more memorable when you win those games, too.”

Anthony Mantha scored in his third straight game (four goals) for the Capitals (17-10-5), who have lost two straight. Darcy Kuemper made 26 saves.

“We just need some 5-on-5 production, and we haven’t gotten that yet this year,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “So, we’ll continue to work at it, we’ll continue to find answers, we’ll continue to look under every rock to find different ways to capitalize and produce and create offense.”

Mantha gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 4:12 of the second period. He entered the zone on a 2-on-1 with Alex Ovechkin, kept the puck and scored over Shesterkin’s glove from the left circle.

Miller tied it 1-1 at 7:03, working a give-and-go with Zibanejad and scoring on a backhand from the slot.

“That was a real big goal,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “Real nice goal, too. There was a lot of small area play right at the blue line. Give-and-go and he popped into a hole. And really nice plays along the way to get it to him in the slot.”

Panarin gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 12:08. Vincent Trocheck took a pass from Zibanejad and skated into the slot before passing to Panarin, who scored on a wrist shot to the top corner from the right circle.

The Rangers have scored at least one power-play goal in eight straight games.

“First five minutes of the period I think we were actually taking it to them,” Capitals forward Tom Wilson said. “We had a couple really good looks, a couple of chances, and that being said, they put it in the back of the net and they started rolling.”

Defenseman Braden Schneider increased the lead to 3-1 when he scored through traffic from the point 40 seconds later at 12:48.

Miller pushed it to 4-1 at 6:54 of the third period when he received a pass from Chris Kreider on the rush and scored through a screen from just above the left circle. It was the third goal by New York's defensemen.

“I love that,” Laviolette said. “I love that they were jumping into the holes, which was great. They were moving the pucks, they were up in the rush. That’s all part of the game nowadays. It was nice to see them get rewarded.”

Alexis Lafrenière made it 5-1 at 11:15 when scored from inside the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Adam Fox.

NOTES: Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba left the game with an upper-body injury early in the second period. Laviolette said after the game that Trouba was still being evaluated. … Panarin has a point in seven of his past eight games (hree goals, six assists). … The Capitals (9-1-2) lost in regulation for the first time this season after scoring the first goal. … Mantha has 11 goals in 28 games after scoring 11 in 67 games last season.