• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Rangers stay alive with OT win over Caps

May 9, 2015 - 4:39 AM New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Ryan McDonagh scored the winner at 9:37 of overtime as the New York Rangers took a 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Chris Kreider scored late in regulation, while Henrik Lundqvist made 28 saves to help the Rangers stave off elimination.

The Capitals still lead the best-of-seven series 3-2, and Game 6 will take place in Washington on Sunday night.

"We're still breathing and we are going to go into Washington on Sunday and give it our best shot," said New York head coach Alain Vigneault.

Curtis Glencross scored the only goal of the game for the Capitals, who saw Braden Holtby stop 41 shots in the loss.

"We were close, obviously," said Holtby. "It would have been nice to close it out. We have to be better."

The winning goal came when Jesper Fast picked off a Glencross pass in the neutral zone and skated into the Washington end down the right wing. Fast sent a pass over to the left wing for Derek Stepan, who dropped it back for a one- timer by McDonagh that hit off the leg of Washington defenseman Tim Gleason and went in.

The Rangers came out strong and outshot the Capitals 16-13 in the first period.

Holtby was on his game, though, as he made a tough stop of a Kevin Klein one- timer from the slot about two minutes in, then kicked out his left pad to stop a Martin St. Louis chance just past the six-minute mark.

He continued to shine in the second period, making his nicest save of the game around seven minutes in when he flashed the glove to swallow up a one-timer from St. Louis that was looking for the back of the net.

Late in the second, the Capitals appeared to take the lead when Matt Niskanen's shot from the right point wound up going in. The goal was immediately waived off, though, as Joel Ward crashed into Lundqvist, preventing him from making a stop.

The Capitals finally broke through at 10:54 of the third when New York's Keith Yandle chipped in at the left point and Matt Niskanen wound up beating him to the puck.

Niskanen then fired a lead pass to Glencross, who went in on the clean break and saw his first shot stopped by the glove of Lundqvist, but he was able to chip in a backhand for his first goal of the playoffs.

New York, though, was able to tie the game with 1:41 to play. Kreider chipped the puck in down the left wing and Stepan caught up to it. Turning around at the circle, Stepan fired the disc back to Kreider, who one-timed it in to send the game to overtime.

Game Notes

Every one of the 10 playoff games the Rangers have played this season have been decided by one goal ... The Rangers have won nine straight home games in which they've faced elimination ... Both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play.