AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

The Rangers faced off against Washington tonight in a game that was tied for about five minutes before it was over. It might have been over before the puck dropped. The Caps jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead on some of the easiest goals I’ve seen. There was nothing Alex Georgiev could do in his short stay in net.

The Rangers clawed back, which is good to see. Lias Andersson notched his first NHL goal by going to the net. Filip Chytil grabbed his first NHL assist on Mats Zuccarello’s goal. They made it somewhat interesting, but that awful start couldn’t be overcome.

Andersson and Chytil both looked very good. Pavel Buchnevich also looked good, setting up a lumbering Cody McLeod for a good chance. The kids, they are alright.

On to the goals:

Caps 1, Rangers 0

Three guys went to Nick Backstrom, which left the pass wide open to TJ Oshie. He’s not going to miss from there.

Caps 2, Rangers 0

Jesper Fast probably should have stopped this pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov. But he didn’t and Matt Niskanen had all the time in the world to wait out Alex Georgiev. His glove dropped, and Niskanen put it over him.

Caps 3, Rangers 0

Alex Ovechkin from his spot. Unstoppable. This chased Georgiev, none of them his fault.

Caps 4, Rangers 0

So a flip out of the zone from the Caps while the Rangers are on the powerplay, and the Caps score. First it was Ryan Spooner and Brady Skjei getting beat by Kuznetsov and Alex Chiasson. Then it was the unlucky whack at the puck by Spooner that hit Chiasson and wound up as a turnover. Then his pass eludes Skjei somehow, I still don’t know how, and Kuznetsov had an empty net.

Caps 4, Rangers 1

Lias Andersson gets his first NHL goal. He went to the net, got himself open, and Jimmy Vesey hit him with the pass.

Caps 4, Rangers 2

The initial shot from the point went wide, and the bounce went right to Chytil. He whiffed a bit on his shot, but Phillippe Grubauer couldn’t control it. It landed on Zuccarello’s stick with the empty net.

The first period of this one was pretty ugly, but it was relatively expected. It’s a loss, something else we expected too. However it was nice to see the two teenagers get their first NHL points. Hopefully the first of many to come.

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