Ice hockey
Ducks thrash Flames in Game One
NEW YORK, May 1, (AP): 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 secondround 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 center 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.
Ducks 6, Flames 1 In Anaheim, California, Corey Perry had two goals and two assists and Anaheim routed Calgary in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinal series.
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 layoff following their first-round sweep of Winnipeg.
Game 2 is Sunday night back at Honda Center, where the Flames haven’t won since the 2006 playoffs and have lost 20 consecutive regularseason games since January 2004.
The six goals tied a Ducks playoff record. Frederik Andersen made 23 saves, losing his bid for his first NHL playoff shutout when Sam Bennett ended the scoring with 10:44 remain- ing.
Jonas Hiller, former Ducks goalie who was pulled by coach Bob Hartley in Games 2 and 6 of the Flames’ firstround 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.