Joel Ward #42 of the Washington Capitals celebrates with Alex Ovechkin #8 after scoring the game winning goal at 19:58 against the New York Rangers in Game One of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.Mike Stobe/Getty Images
Joel Ward scored with 1.3 seconds left to give the Washington Capitals a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night in Game 1 of their second-round series.
Ward drove to the net and tapped Alex Ovechkin's feed past Henrik Lundqvist. After the goal was confirmed by replay, Ovechkin kissed Ward on the cheek.
Following a mostly ceremonial faceoff, the teams skirmished at centre ice.
Ovechkin opened the scoring on a power play with 1:47 remaining in the first period. Jesper Fast tied it with 4:39 left in the third, tipping Kevin Hayes' point shot past goalie Braden Holtby.
Holtby made 31 saves, and Lundqvist stopped 27 shots.
Game 2 is Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
The Capitals ended a two-game losing streak against New York in the playoffs. Washington also lost three of the four regular-season meetings with the Rangers.
In the first period, with New York centre Dominic Moore in the penalty box for holding, Ovechkin carried the puck into the offensive zone and whipped a shot past Lundqvist from the top of the left circle for his third goal of the playoffs.
In 27 career playoff games against the Rangers, Ovechkin has 11 goals and 10 assists. He led the NHL during the regular season with 53 goals, 25 power-play goals and 11 game-winning goals.
Ovechkin's goal was Washington's first playoff score against Lundqvist in 138:13 dating to Game 6 of the 2013 Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Holtby was aided by some misfires from New York's shooters.
In the second, Carl Hagelin pushed Fast's cross-ice feed wide of the net. Later in the period, Derick Brassard couldn't jam a loose puck in the crease past Holtby. Martin St. Louis' slap shot from the slot 3:56 into the third was blocked by Karl Alzner.
Lundqvist was strong, too. He made a glove save on Nicklas Backstrom with 5:28 left in the second. In the third, he stopped Brooks Laich's wraparound attempt and John Carlson off-wing drive.