The New York Rangers are not going to the playoffs, but are currently playing and trying to fight their way in. With an 8-1 bludgeoning of Washington, the best this team can do now is to try to establish its youth and play spoiler for the rest of the National Hockey League.
In that dominating victory, there was one really big performance from a player who is surprisingly ending their season on a high note. After being counted down-and-out for most of the year, Will Cuylle is turning it around and has a chance to establish some career-highs.
Let’s talk about what he did against the Capitals, and what can happen over the last four games of 2025-26.
Late-season surge
Cuylle threw everything at the Capitals, even the kitchen sink and microwave. He laid some big hits, scored a hat trick, and nearly notched a Gordie Howe hat trick in the process. What a game from No. 50 that fans have been wanting to see more consistently this season.
You would think that given his success that Cuylle played a majority of the 60 minutes against the Capitals, but he only had an ice time of 12:58. That can’t be right.
One night ago, Rangers blossoming star Gabe Perreault scored his first career-hat trick as well. What a whirlwind of time here.
This late-season surge has been a benefit for the Rangers, in a time when success was long since needed. Blueshirts fans are divided between continuing to win and develop youth or tanking for a higher pick. To each their own when it comes to what they want, but it is certainly the end for these Rangers players, who are continuing to try to win hockey games when the season is lost.
They are not quitting, and that includes Cuylle, who tied his career-high in goals set last season, with 20. With four games left to play before the Blueshirts wrap up the season for good, there could be another career-high set with just one more goal. In terms of assists and points, he currently needs eight assists and obviously, eight more points, to tie his career-high set in 2024-25.
Can he continue to bring the boom and contribute offensively to break his own personal-high marks? Time will tell, but it is encouraging to see Cuylle pushing hard to make a positive impact to end the season, and attempt to revise the narrative of his 2025-26 season.