WASHINGTON — If one didn’t know any better, one might be tempted to think the Rangers opening the 2021-22 NHL season in Washington against the Capitals — and Tom Wilson — might not have been a random thing.
A cynic might think the league (and perhaps its national television partners) may have seen value in pitting the Rangers in their season opener against the player who assaulted their star forward, Artemi Panarin, in that late season game that ultimately started the dominoes falling on a revamping of the Blueshirts’ organizational structure and roster makeup.
But with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, deputy commissioner Bill Daly and George Parros, the head of the league’s Department of Player Safety in the house, Wilson was on his best behavior and Alex Ovechkin stole the show with two goals that lifted him into fifth place on the NHL’s all-time goalscorers list and powered the Capitals to a 5-1 win Wednesday at Capital One Arena in Gerard Gallant’s first game as the Blueshirts coach.
Ovechkin moved past Marcel Dionne with his 732nd goal, and Washington scored three power-play goals, including one by Ovechkin. T.J. Oshie and Justin Schultz also scored with the man advantage, and 19-year-old rookie Hendrix Lapierre scored for Washington in his NHL debut.
The Rangers don’t have a lot of time to lick their wounds over the loss. They are back in action Thursday, when they play their home opener at Madison Square Garden against the Dallas Stars.
Gallant had insisted Wednesday morning, that despite having added people like enforcer Ryan Reaves, and 6-6, 232-pound defenseman Jarred Tinordi to their roster over the summer, the Rangers were not planning on starting any trouble with Wilson and the Capitals Wednesday night.
"It's not about toughness, it's about making our team harder to play against,’’ Gallant said after Wednesday’s morning skate, about the Rangers’ harder edge this season. "They keep bringing up the (Wilson-Panarin) incident last year. The incident last year isn't gonna happen tonight, and if it did happen tonight, we'd get a response. The response wasn't there last year. (But) that incident's in the past.’’
Bettman was asked before the game about the potential for fireworks.
"Our players and our coaches and our managers are professionals, they know what's expected of them,’’ Bettman said. "And we think it would be best if everybody focused on being on the right side of the line as opposed to the wrong side of the line. The game has our attention.’’
There were some confrontations in the game, but nothing at all that looked anything like what happened on May 5 at the Garden, when Wilson drove his stick into the neck of Pavel Buchnevich while he was on the ice, and then grabbed a helmetless Panarin and body-slammed him to the ice. The NHL saw fit not to suspend the notorious Wilson, and fined him the maximum $5,000 for what he did to Buchnevich. Owner James Dolan fired team president John Davidson and GM Jeff Gorton two days later, the day the teams played again at the Garden. In that game, there were six fights, including Wilson going with Brendan Smith.
Wednesday, the closest thing to a fight was when Washington’s Trevor van Riemsdyk went after Sammy Blais for Blais’ (clean) hit on Justin Schultz. Van Riemsdyk and Blais each got four minutes for roughing.
Washington took the early lead on T.J. Oshie’s power-play goal at 4:39, and made it 2-0 on a power-play goal by Schultz at 12:38 of the second period. Lapierre scored on a two-on-one break, off a pass by Oshie, 24 seconds later to make it 3-0.
Ovechkin’s first goal, at 2:37 of the third period, made it 4-0. Chris Kreider scored on a power play to make it 4-1, and then Ovechkin scored again, at 12:01, a short-handed goal.