Marc Staal scored a power-play goal 1:35 into overtime after Brad Richards tied it in the dying seconds of regulation to lift the New York Rangers to a stunning 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
With goalie Henrik Lundqvist pulled for an extra attacker, Washington’s Joel Ward took a four-minute penalty for high-sticking Carl Hagelin with 21.3 seconds left in the third period.
Richards tied it on the first half of the power play with just 7.6 seconds to go, and Staal won it with a drive that appeared to deflect off a Washington player before beating Braden Holtby.
“The last minute was incredible,’’ Staal said. “We knew we had a power play going into overtime and we wanted to get one and be quick. That’s what we ended up doing.’’
The Rangers can advance to the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday in Washington.
With the crowd still buzzing over the tying goal, John Mitchell won a faceoff in the Capitals’ end to start the winning play. Staal corraled the puck at the right point, glided to the center of the zone, and fired the drive that set off a wild celebration.
After no success with traditional five-on-four power plays, the Rangers made the most of their six-on-four edge courtesy of Ward as Lundqvist watched from the bench.
Michael Del Zotto took a shot that hit traffic in front to the right of Holtby. Ryan Callahan took two or three whacks at the loose puck, but couldn’t get it forward. Richards jammed his stick into the maze of legs and poked the puck past Holtby just before he was able to cover it.
John Carlson couldn’t keep the puck out, either, after he got in behind Holtby as a last line of defense.
Ward was the first-round hero for the Capitals, scoring the winning goal in overtime in Game 7 to knock out the defending champion Bruins. Now, he hopes he will have the chance to redeem himself.
“This definitely stings,’’ he said. “It was a hard-fought battle. It’s tough when you let the team down on a play like that.’’
Anton Stralman staked the Rangers to a 1-0 lead during a dominant first period for New York, but Brooks Laich answered for the Capitals in the second.
Carlson then snapped the 1-1 tie 4:20 into the third with the goal that appeared to put the seventh-seeded Capitals on the brink of knocking out the top-seeded Rangers.
Coyotes 2, Predators 1 - Mike Smith stopped 32 shots and host Phoenix beat Nashville to earn its first trip to the Western Conference finals.
The Coyotes withstood a late goal by Nashville’s Colin Wilson to reach the conference finals for the first time in 33 years as an NHL franchise. Derek Morris and Martin Hanzal each scored and Smith nearly had an empty-net goal to set off a raucous celebration in the desert. The Coyotes will face the Los Angeles Kings, the first No. 8 seed to knock off Nos. 1 and 2 in the same playoffs.
Nashville fell short of the conference finals for the second straight season despite getting forwards Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn back from two-game suspensions. The Predators managed one goal despite outshooting the Coyotes,
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