Andersson, Chytil Provide Spark but Rangers Fall to Caps

The youth movement was in full effect Monday night at The Garden, and as expected, the Blueshirts must take the good with the bad.
The good? Lias Andersson, the seventh overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, scored a goal in his NHL debut. Filip Chytil, the 21st overall pick, registered his first point with an assist.
The bad? The Rangers lost to the Metropolitan Division-leading Washington Capitals, 4-2, though the negative was mostly confined to the first period.

With the team trailing by four in the second, Jimmy Vesey found Andersson open in front, and the rookie buried a one-timer through Philipp Grubauer for his first tally in the NHL with his parents and younger brother in attendance.
"It's always fun to score, and especially in your first NHL game," Andersson said. "It was fun."

Andersson finished the night a plus-1 with two shots on goal and won both of his faceoffs. He said it took him a handful of shifts to settle into the game, but that he felt more comfortable as the game progressed.
"It took a few shifts to get used to the rink and the pace and the league," said Andersson, who became the youngest player in Rangers history to score in his NHL debut. "We played one of the best teams in the world today. It was tough in the beginning, but I think I played good in the second and third. I felt good."
Chytil's point came on the primary assist to Mats Zuccarello's goal that got the Rangers to within two goals in the third period. The 18-year-old sent a soft shot towards the net that found its way onto Zuccarello's stick for the tap in.
"It's very good," said Chytil, who had six shots on goal in 14:23, "but I'd like to win."

Chytil said he "felt great" and that he was helped playing with Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes.
"Every shift I felt more comfortable," he said. "It was a good game."
Washington opened the scoring 2:50 into the contest on a goal by T.J Oshie, and opened up a 3-0 advantage on goals by Matt Niskanen and Alex Ovechkin by 8:54. Ovechkin's power play goal - his 45th goal of the season - ended Alexandar Georgiev's night.
Ondrej Pavelec replaced Georgiev for his first action since Feb. 9 due to a knee injury, and allowed a goal to Evgeny Kuznetsov at 16:39 that made it 4-0 before New York scored the final two goals.
Vigneault praised Pavelec, who has been practicing with the team and serving as the backup while Henrik Lundqvist continues to recover from a collision last week against Columbus. Vigneault said he's expected to start Wednesday in Washington.
"Coming off the bench - Pavs has been a real good teammate," Vigneault said of Pavelec, who stopped everything he saw over the final two periods, including a glove save on Ovechkin in the third. "Coming off the bench and made some big saves. It was encouraging."

Andersson - who joined Vinni Lettieri in scoring in his first NHL game this season - and Chytil became the first pair of Rangers teenagers to both record a point in the same game since Dave Maloney and Ron Greschner on Dec. 18, 1974.
The duo was part of six rookies for the Rangers, the most to appear in a game since Jan. 25, 2011.
"There's no doubt that any time you bring youth that has skill and character, you're heading in the right direction," Vigneault said. "Both the young players that we saw tonight, both have skill and everybody talks about Lias as a character kid. He's captain [Sweden's] junior team this year. There's definitely a lot of upside with both those young men."