The Washington Capitals played their inaugural game in the National Hockey League on October 9, 1974 at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. In his first of just 21 games in the NHL, Jim Hrycuik opened the scoring for the Caps with an unassisted goal at 5:06 of the first period, scored on New York goalie Ed Giacomin.
Hrycuik also assisted on a Dave Kryskow third period marker for a two point game. The Rangers ultimately won the match 6-3 with Greg Polis scoring the game winner. Polis and Rick Middleton both had a pair of goals in the game for the Rangers while Walt Tkaczuk had four assists. The other Washington goals was scored by Ron Anderson.
In net for the Capitals, Ron Low faced 47 shots, turning away 37. Ed Giacomin most likely had a hard time staying focused with Washington putting just 12 shots his way. Not a single player from the Capitals had more than one shot on net.
Jim Hrycuik would play just 21 games for the Capitals in 1974-75, scoring five goals and assisting on five more. That would be all he’d play in the NHL. However, Jim had some success in the minors, winning an IHL championship with the Forth Wayne Komets in 1972-73 and a Calder Cup title with the Hershey Bears in 1973-74. He led the Bears in scoring that year.
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