Steve Oleksy, Capitals Rookie, Tastes 2 Extremes of N.H.L. Life WASHINGTON - The extremes of beauty and ugliness in hockey came quickly for Steve Oleksy in his playoff debut Thursday night. The 27-year-old Capitals defenseman, who was making his playoff debut after spending several years bouncing between the American Hockey League and the third-tier E.C.H.L., first set up a beautiful breakaway goal for center Marcus Johansson that gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead in their eventual 3-1 victory over the Rangers. Minutes later, he took a Derick Brassard slap shot to the face. Circling between the dots in his own defensive zone, Oleksy spotted Johansson near the Rangers" blue line, and his pass zoomed straight up the middle of the ice, perfectly splitting Rangers defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi. Johansson was in alone, and beat Henrik Lundqvist low. "I didn't think he was even going to try," Johansson said. But when I saw when he passed it I knew right away it was going to make it. It was the perfect pass. Oleksky said: "I was taking a couple extra seconds to calm it down there, and I saw Jojo streaking. He did a great job giving me a spot there, and I saw a little lane, and obviously, you know, he did the job. Minutes later, Oleksy would be face down on the ice after dropping to his knees in attempt to stop Brassard's fast-rising slap shot, which him in the jaw, just below his right cheek. "Yeah, it's one of those things," Oleksy said. You go down to block, and he was trying to go high, and he got it up quick, and you know, luckily there wasn't more damage. Once Oleksy collected himself, he skated quickly to the Capitals" bench, drawing cheers from the crowd. His face and teeth were checked by the trainer, who quickly cleared him to return. "I'm pretty fragile, I cut pretty easy, so just made sure I wasn't leakin" too bad," Oleksy joked. And fortunately there wasn't more damage then there was. Oleksy no longer wears a visor because of an N.H.L. rule that penalizes a player who wears one and is deemed an instigator in a fight. "It's one of those freak things," he said. And to be honest where it hit me, visor or no visor it really wouldn't have mattered. Especially with the visor and the fighting rule, that's the reason I took it off in the first place. So it's one of those things that's going to happen. Hockey's a rough sport, and visor or no visor it's going to hit me. Fellow defenseman Karl Alzner glowed over the impressive transition that Oleksy, a rookie, has made to the N.H.L. "He played great," Alzner said. Confident, calm, and he did all the right things. Like I've been saying the entire time he's been here, he's an amazing player. I think it's the start to a good career for him. As promising as he has been, Oleksy was already 27 before he made it to the N.H.L. "It took a while for somebody to realize it," Alzner said. It's nice that they did figure out that he could play. And obviously he's stepping up to that challenge right now. He's a got a good head on his shoulders. He's a smart kid, so he knows how to play. Alzner quickly corrected himself. I shouldn't say kid - because he's older than I am. He's a smart guy.