The facts, and nothing but the facts, are these:

Kaapo Kakko, quite famously selected second-overall by the Rangers after the Devils went with Jack Hughes, leads the draft class of 2019 in games played with 75, five more than the New Jersey teenager and 10 more than the Blackhawks’ third-overall selection, Kirby Dach, who is out for the season (There but for the grace…) with a broken wrist he sustained at the World Junior Tournament.

Kakko, who will turn 20 on Feb. 13, leads in goals with 13, three more than Hughes’ total and four more than Dach has recorded.

And the Blueshirts’ No. 24 is second in points with 26, trailing Hughes by three while leading Dach by four.

Putting this into context, Kakko is pretty much where he should be just nine games into his sophomore pro season.

But he is most decidedly not where anyone around New York — and probably not in Turku, Finland, from where he hails — wants or thinks he should be.

He was, after all, advertised as NHL-ready. He was, after all, advertised as ready to make an impact in the NHL.

So the perception is that Kakko is way behind schedule.

But Thursday at the Garden, The Big Train arrived right on time in the Blueshirts’ impressive 4-2 victory over the Capitals that kept the team on track, now 4-4-2 off of a 3-0-1 run. Kakko, in fact, arrived often, with some malice and a whole lot of purpose in manning the right side alongside Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome with an engaged 200×85 performance.

“What we have to do as a staff, and everybody has to do is stop comparing him to where we want him to be — the ultimate player,” coach David Quinn said before the match, in which the Rangers held a third-period lead for the seventh time in their 10 games. “We have a vision of what we think Kaapo Kakko is going to look like. He’s 19 years old. Our job is to continue to monitor him and make sure he’s getting better. And he’s doing it.”

Kakko got only 14:13 of ice time, but was involved to such an extent on almost every shift, it seemed as if he had gotten almost double that. He won pucks against the wall, took the puck to the net, was strong on the forecheck and was not only diligent, but also a constructive factor in the defensive zone.

His work down low triggered the two-on-one rush on which Panarin and Strome reached back into their 2019-20 bag of tricks to befuddle netminder Vitek Vanecek before Strome finished it into an empty side for a 3-1 lead at 7:55 of the third period.

“I thought Kaapo played his best game of the year,” Strome, who had opened the scoring with a redirection at 1:41 of the first, said. “Right from the start, he was really assertive, getting in on the forecheck making good plays and the second goal of mine doesn’t happen without him.

“He was really engaged tonight and it was nice to see for his confidence. I mean, even me with 500 games, you go through highs and lows with your confidence level so hopefully he can build off this.”

All of the winger’s peripherals have improved. And while plus-minus can at times be reflective of fortune, last year Kakko was on for 16 goals for and 40 against. Now, he has been on for five goals for and three against.

Clearly there has been improvement, but what has been missing, at least to these experienced (or old, take your pick) eyes has been his ability to do something special and bring folks out of their seats. In this one, though, he demanded you take notice.

“I think he’s doing a better job in his wall battles and pressuring the puck,” said Quinn, who for the second straight game minimized ice time for Alexis Lafreniere. “It’s just the level of competence. And he’s playing faster.

“When people hear ‘playing faster,’ it’s not just skating faster, it’s going from play to play. And I think he’s doing a much better job of that. He’s much better in his D-zone. And you can just see it. He’s starting to completely understand the game at the NHL level and the North American level.

“Like I said, we all have a vision of what he’s going to look like eventually, but it’s going to be a process,” said the coach. “We judge him from game to game, not from where we want him to be as a finished product.”

This represented the vision. This represented much of what the Blueshirts expect and ultimately need from Kakko, who is both the second most productive player among the Class of 2019 and a faintly disappointing work in progress.

Nothing disappointing about this one, however. Nothing at all.