NYR VS WASCapitals, Ward seek redemption

By Jay Greenberg, in New York

The Caps still have another shot in Game 6 (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7:30 p.m. ET) to force one more chance in Game 7 to save Joel Ward. 

 

His application for admittance has been stamped at the Gates Of Ignominy, where he has been processed, fingerprinted and assigned a room with Marty McSorley, whose illegal banana blade turned the 1993 finals for Montreal and whoever jumped on the ice too soon for Boston - Don Cherry will never tell - when the Bruins seemingly finally had the Canadiens beaten in 1979 after a three-year obsession.

But if Ward is not yet in hockey hell, he could certainly see it from the penalty bench where he sat when the Rangers' Brad Richards tied the game out of a goalmouth scramble with 6.6 seconds to play and Marc Staal's point drive went off two Capitals to win Game 5, 3-2, at 1:35 of overtime.

 

In a battle for position following a faceoff, Ward reefed Carl Hagelin in the face -- a classic case of not being in control of your stick. Blood was shed by Hagelin and tears in Washington when Ryan Callahan, jamming, jamming at the puck in Braden Holtby's pads, kept the puck alive that Brad Richards got his stick on just before the rookie goalie's big glove could come down to put Washington up 3-2. 

 

The shot -- a poke really -- barely avoided Carl Alzner, who went to a knee on what would have been the 26th Caps block of the game, and slid off the far post and in.  In overtime, Ward still was in the box on the double minor when John Mitchell beat Matt Hendricks on a draw and Marc Staal's shot ticked off both Laich and Hendricks and past a blind Holtby.

"I was just hoping for another chance to redeem myself," said Ward, who was waiting for reporters when they were admitted to the locker room.  "But when you are in the box there is nothing you can do.

 

"[Hagelin] set a pick, I was trying to get around him and gut my stick under him and that was it.  It's tough when you let the team down. "

 

After having their hearts ripped up their throats in Game Three triple overtime, the Caps bounced back to win all of Game 4 and 59:53.4 of Game 5 too.  They had gotten goals by Laich, who pounced after Brian Boyle broke down a centering pass by Alex Ovechkin into the slot, and by John Carlson on a power play.

 

It looked like Ranger rookie Chris Kreider, who took an early third-period high sticking penalty almost identical to Ward's enabling the Carlson goal, would be the one fingered by fate.  But instead it turned on Ward, a six-goal regular season scorer, who six games ago became perhaps the all-time playoff hero for a franchise of essentially blossomless springs by beating the Bruins in Game Seven overtime.   The game is much more cruel than was Ward's intent.

"It was an accident, the breaks of the game," shrugged Dale Hunter, who coaches a team that also lost Game 6 in overtime to Boston in a series just as tight as this one and will presumably have its head on straight for a last stand by Wednesday night.

 

"It won't be hard because we know how well we played," said Alzner.  "It's not like losing 5-0."

 

Losing 5-0 might have been easier. The Caps had held the Rangers power play to no shots in three previous power plays before, with the help of the extra man replacing Henrik Lundqvist, they relentlessly used the six-on-four to their advantage.   Richards won faceoffs from Jay Beagle with 56 and 28 seconds to go and on sheer persistence, finally got a puck out of Holtby's reach.

 

After misjudging Anton Stralman's drive from the boards 10:44 in, the rookie goalie had been classically composed and the Caps typically unyielding in front of him.  They certainly had chances to make the Rangers need more than just the gift from Ward for a last chance. 

In the third period Nicklas Backstrom hit the crossbar on a breakaway and the Caps failed to get a shot on a three-on-one, enabling Rangers, who didn't put away some of their on glorious opportunities at 1-0 and 1-1 to hang around to get a break in the end.

 

"You feel like you're going to get a chance coming down the stretch and somebody has to bury it," said Richards, whose play was described as "brutal" in Game 5 by John Tortorella but got another chance. 

 

One wouldn't expect a 6-goal scorer like Ward to receive one more. He had his 10 seconds of fame in the last round. Infamy, however, will last forever for this poor man if the Caps can't bounce back again.