There was discipline, there was structure, there was even a successful penalty kill.
In the end, it resulted in the Rangers taking a much-needed 4-1 win over the Capitals on Wednesday night at the Garden.
The Rangers (9-8-2) had come into the game after a few days off, licking their wounds after getting swept on a two-game trip through Florida over the weekend. There was a debacle in Tampa on Thursday, and a better effort that came up short in Sunrise, Fla., on Saturday. But it wasn’t getting any easier against Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals (16-4-4), who were 13-1-2 going back to Oct.