Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

New York second: Capitals stun Rangers for 1-0 series lead

Joel Ward Alex Ovechkin John Carlson

Joel Ward Alex Ovechkin John Carlson

AP

The Washington Capitals grabbed a Game 1 win against the New York Rangers with the kind of buzzer-beating sequence that won’t be forgotten for some time.

Nicklas Backstrom delivered a questionable hit on Dan Boyle before Joel Ward managed the 2-1 game-winner with less than two seconds remaining.

Boyle immediately left the ice, so we’ll see if the Rangers lose more than just the contest. The two teams brawled after the whistle, and one could assume that it had much to do with that Backstrom hit, Tanner Glass being sent sprawling onto Henrik Lundqvist and Chris Kreider’s collision with Braden Holtby.

Of course, it might have just been about the staggering series event that ended the contest.

The Capitals leaned heavily on Holtby in this one, as it seemed like he would make Alex Ovechkin’s first-period laser stand as the lone tally of the night. Instead, Jesper Fast was credited with a deflection goal with a little more than four-and-a-half minutes remaining in the third, giving the impression that we’d get the first overtime squabble of the second round.

Obviously, that was not to be, as Ward found the net for another big goal. The guy just seems to have a knack for playoff scoring ... especially when a new contract is on the line.

This loss really has to hurt the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers, but if previous Ovechkin/Lundqvist-era series are any indication, we could see many twists and turns before one team advances to the Eastern Conference finals.