WASHINGTON (AP) – Once merely 101 seconds from having their season end, then forced to hold off a furious Game 6 rally, Chris Kreider and the New York Rangers are now one victory away from returning to the Eastern Conference finals.
Kreider scored 40 seconds after the opening faceoff and with 0.3 seconds left in the first period Sunday night, Rick Nash and Dan Boyle added goals in the third, and the Rangers barely held on to beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 and force a Game 7 in the second round.
New York led 2-0, then 4-1 with less than 12 1/2 minutes left in regulation. But Washington’s Evgeny Kuznetsov and Joel Ward put the puck past Henrik Lundqvist less than 3 minutes apart to make it a one-goal game with nearly half a period to go.
That prompted the Rangers to call timeout and brought much of the red-clad fans to their feet, screaming “Let’s go, Caps!” and then mockingly singing Lundqvist’s last name.
But the Swedish goalie was solid the rest of the way, stopping Washington’s last four shots – including Alex Ovechkin on a 1-on-1 – and surviving a late Capitals power play to finish with 42 saves. That’s a career high for Lundqvist in a playoff game that didn’t go to overtime.