It may have taken a little longer then NHL and New York Rangers fans would have liked, but Kaapo Kakko has officially arrived. With 1:32 remaining in the first period Danny Green Jersey of Saturday's matinee against the Edmonton Oilers,the 18-year-old netted his first career NHL goal and it was a beauty. After entering the Oilers' zone 2-on-2, Ryan Strome dished the puck to a flying Kakko, who made his way past a backchecking Oscar Klefbom. The 2019 second-overall pick then out deked veteran netminder Mike Smith to finish on the backhand into the open net. . rookie Kaapo Kakko notches his first career NHL goal to open the scoring against the . Sportsnet ( Nerlens Noel Jersey @Sportsnet) Kakko entered Saturday's matinee without a point in two games but he wasn't worried in fact, following Tuesday's practice, he may Zhaire Smith Jersey have been prophetic. "I want to score, so there is a little bit of pre sure, but we have 80 games left," . "I think it's coming. I know everybody was thinking that I'm going to score in my first game. That didn't happen. Maybe next game. Hopefully." The excitement from the rookie and his teammates resonated around the confines of Madison Square Garden. "What a finish there," Strome told MSG's Dave Maloney during the first Mike Scott Jersey intermi sion. "I think he wanted to kind of get that monkey off his back. Every shift he kind of said something about getting that first one and look how fired up he is there .. . it's good to see that excitement and the Julius Erving Jersey whole bench fed off it." Just the eighth player in Rangers franchise history to score at 18 years old or younger and the ninth to tally a point, Kakko has impre sed his teammates and coaches alike. While it is a small sample size, he entered Saturday with three shots on net while averaging just under 15 minutes of ice time.