The New York Rangers were once again dominated in the first period, this time they couldn’t make up for it as they fell to the Capitals at home.
- Washington Capitals 4 (45-24-7, 97 points)
- New York Rangers 2 (33-35-8, 74 points)
- WSH Goals: T.J. Oshie (17), Matt Niskanen (7), Alex Ovechkin (45), Evgeny Kuznetsov (24)
- NYR Goals: Lias Andersson (1), Mats Zuccarello (16)
- NHL. Final. Boxscore.
- Madison Square Garden, NY, New York.
The highly anticipated debut of Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil was ruined by the Washington Capitals who came into the Garden and absolutely dominated the New York Rangers winning 4-2.
Washington leads the Metropolitan Division with the Rangers on the outside of the playoff picture and boy did Washington show their skill. At times it looked like it was men amongst boys but still served as a test for this young Rangers team.
Even though they were dominated in the first, the Rangers calmed down and played a better team. The problem was that the damage had already been done in the first period. Once again a bad start to a game cost them.
Just 2:50 into the game after the Rangers failed to score on the power play, T.J. Oshie took advantage of the Rangers inexperience.
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) March 26, 2018
Alexandar Georgiev was in goal again for the Rangers as Henrik Lundqvist remained out of the lineup. Georgiev did not have the help he needed as evident on the Capitals second goal.
Niskanen scores, Caps up 2-0 pic.twitter.com/t8tIzIqIux
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) March 26, 2018
Look how Matt Niskanen had all of the time in the world in front of Georgiev as Washington would score two goals in the first 5:13. Oh, and they weren’t done as this time it was Alex Ovechkin.
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) March 27, 2018
That goal would be the last shot that Georgiev would face as head coach Alain Vigneault would turn to Ondrej Pavelec. Pavelec hadn’t seen action since Feb. 9th after being out with an injury. He might be wishing he was still on the bench.
As the #NYR power play in winding down, Kuznetsov makes it 4-0 caps with a short-handed goal pic.twitter.com/1dAxs92Zw5
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) March 27, 2018
This game wasn’t going well for the Blueshirts even in the second period until Lias Andersson made the Garden erupt.
In his first NHL goal, Lias Andersson scores his first NHL goal pic.twitter.com/It1IPGFhk9
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) March 27, 2018
Andersson would record his first goal in his first NHL game and brought some life in what was turning into a dull game from a Rangers perspective.
The team would build off that goal and this time it was Filip Chytil picking up his first point in the NHL assisting on a goal from Mats Zuccarello.
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) March 27, 2018
This was the first time since 1974 that the Rangers had two teenagers record a point. Dave Maloney and Ron Greschner were the last two to do so.
Despite a valiant comeback effort, the Rangers could not make up for that first period as they fell to 4-2 despite some chances. The two teams will face off again Wednesday night in Washington D.C.
