WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin was bumped around, boxed in and, well, pretty much Broad Street Bullied for most of his NHL playoff debut.
And then, with the outcome hanging in the balance, Alex the Great emerged.
Held without a single shot until late, the league’s leading scorer stole the puck and netted the tiebreaking goal with 4 1/2 minutes remaining, giving the Washington Capitals a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Friday night.
“They held him in check pretty good,” Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said, “but he’s one of the guys that needs one chance.”
That’s pretty much all Ovechkin got against the Flyers, who led 4-2 heading into the final period, thanks to two goals apiece by Danny Briere and Vaclav Prospal. But Ovechkin got going by helping set up the first of two goals by defenseman Mike Green that lifted Washington into a tie.
And then Ovechkin, the 22-year-old Russian who set a NHL record for goals by a left wing this season with 65, put the finishing touch on the Capitals’ first playoff game since 2003. He took the puck away from defenseman Lasse Kukkonen and slid it past goalie Martin Biron, drawing “M-V-P!” chants from the red-clad fans.
“A pretty veteran move,” said Sergei Fedorov, a 38-year-old who would know, having earned 1994 league MVP honors and three Stanley Cup championships with Detroit.
Looking at the way his young teammate handled himself all night, Fedorov lavished more praise on Ovechkin.
“It’s not easy: so much talk about everything and such a great season,” Fedorov said. “Playoffs is a little different. I’m actually surprised — really amazed — that he kept himself so together, so cool in the final moments of the game.”
Rangers 2, Devils 1
NEWARK, N.J. — Jaromir Jagr and Sean Avery scored 23 seconds apart early in the third period and Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves for New York.
The win was the Rangers’ ninth in 10 games against New Jersey this season, and it gave New York a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. New Jersey has lost four of the five series in which it fell behind 2-0.
Its only comeback was in 1994 in the Eastern Conference semifinals after losing the first two games at home to Boston.
Penguins 5, Senators 3
PITTSBURGH — Ryan Malone scored Pittsburgh’s third power-play goal of the game with only 1:02 remaining and the Penguins squandered a three-goal lead against Ottawa, then rallied for a victory.
Malone added an empty net goal with 6.5 seconds remaining — the Penguins’ 54th shot, easily their most in regulation in their playoff history. The previous record was 49 shots.
The Associated Press
