New York Rangers: Panarin’s brilliance, other takeaways from Caps win

1. Rangers Show Some Maturity

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this year is going to be full of growing pains and learning curves for the New York Rangers.

There will be giddy highs and extreme lows and we’ve seen both ends of the spectrum at play over the last couple of weeks.

First, the Blueshirts beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime before then putting up an absolute horror show in a 9-3 loss in Tampa, while you can also point to the 6-2 humbling at the hands of the Ottawa Senators that came just days after a gritty win in Nashville.

So, you can’t be blamed for fearing another implosion in Ottawa on Friday after what the Rangers did to the Capitals.

However, there was something different about this win and there was something different about how one of the youngest teams in the NHL handled the ebbs and flows of the game.

They showed a real killer instinct to race into a 3-0 lead in the second period after going blow-for-blow with Washington in the first, while Henrik Lundqvist came up big when needed.

And, even when the Capitals did get on the board thanks to Evgeny Kuznetsov‘s goal on the power play, the Rangers dealt with the adversity and responded by icing the game and shutting down their opponents.

They won the special teams battle after going 2-for-3 on the power play and killing off two of the Caps’ three attempts on the man advantage, which is impressive given Washington’s offensive prowess.

And, let’s keep this little nugget in mind: The Blueshirts are the first team that has held the Capitals to fewer than two goals in a game this season.

It was just a complete team performance from the New York Rangers who seem to be growing up and maturing as a group, and they showed tantalizing signs that they are turning an important corner when it comes to managing a game.