New York: Washington’s Joel Ward scored with 1.3 seconds left to give the Capitals a valuable 2-1 road victory at the New York Rangers on Thursday as the second round of the play-offs began with two contrasting games.
While Washington snuck home with a late winner, on the other side of the country Anaheim thrashed Calgary 6-1 to win their Game 1.
Washington took the lead against the Rangers when Alex Ovechkin scored during a power play near the end of the first period. The Capitals held that advantage until Jesper Fast equalised for the hosts with 4:39 left in the third, deflecting a Kevin Hayes shot past Washington goaltender Braden Holtby.
The game looked headed for overtime until Ward drove to the net and tapped Ovechkin’s feed past Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. After the goal was confirmed by replay, Ovechkin kissed Ward on the cheek.
Holtby made 31 saves and Lundqvist stopped 27 shots. Game 2 is on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
Anaheim’s Corey Perry had two goals and two assists as the Ducks stamped their authority on Calgary.
Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and three assists, and Matt Beleskey, Patrick Maroon and Emerson Etem also scored for the top-seeded Ducks, who had a seven-day lay-off following their first-round sweep of Winnipeg.
Game 2 is Sunday back at Honda Center, where the Flames haven’t won since the 2006 play-offs and have lost 20 consecutive regular-season games since January 2004.
The six goals tied a Ducks play-off record. Frederik Andersen made 23 saves, losing his bid for his first NHL play-off shutout when Sam Bennett ended the scoring with 10:44 remaining.
Jonas Hiller, former Ducks goalie who was pulled by coach Bob Hartley in Games 2 and 6 of the Flames’ first-round series against Vancouver, stopped 11 of 14 shots before he was yanked again with a 3-0 deficit after Perry carried the puck out from behind the net and jammed it past Hiller’s stick at 2:13 of the second period
