Kreider’s timely goals lead NYR

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

All of 40 seconds into Game 6, Chris Kreider scored for the New York Rangers. Did it again with all of 0.3 seconds left in the first period.

And after the Rangers nearly let all of a three-goal lead slip away late, Henrik Lundqvist helped them hang on.

Once so close to being out of the playoffs altogether, the Rangers are suddenly a Game 7 victory away from eliminating the Washington Capitals and returning to the Eastern Conference finals.

Kreider got things started with his goals, Rick Nash put his first of the series into the net 54 seconds into the third period, and Dan Boyle tacked on a score that turned out to be vital, helping the Rangers hold on to edge the Capitals 4-3 on Sunday night and even the second-round series at three games apiece.

“We went back on our heels a little bit, and they just kept pushing,” New York center Derek Stepan said. “Luckily, we had four, because we needed all four of them.”

Sure did.

New York led 2-0 thanks to Kreider — the 24-year-old dynamo out of Boston College with 16 career playoff goals already, including four in this series — then 4-1 with less than 12 1/2 minutes left.

“We just can’t put ourselves in that hole,” Capitals forward Tom Wilson said.

But Evgeny Kuznetsov and Joel Ward put the puck past Lundqvist less than three minutes apart to make it a one-goal game with nearly half a period to go.

“We’re relentless,” Capitals goalie Braden Holtby said.

So, too, are the Rangers.

The Presidents’ Trophy winners this season and Stanley Cup runners-up a year ago trailed 3-1 in this series and 1-0 with 101 seconds left in the third period of Game 5. But that’s when Kreider scored to tie it, before Ryan McDonagh won it in overtime.