Chris Kreider scored 38 seconds after the opening faceoff and the New York Rangers bounced back from a tough, last-second loss and defeated the Washington Capitals 3-2 Saturday.
The series is tied 1-1. Game 3 is Monday at Washington.
Dan Boyle and Derick Brassard also scored and Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves in the entertaining game that featured a highlight-reel goal by Alexander Ovechkin that made the final 10 minutes exciting.
Evgeny Kuznetsov also scored for Washington and Braden Holtby made 32 saves and prevented the Capitals from being blown out early.
Game 2 will be remembered for Kreider's early goal and Ovechkin's spectacular tally in the third period, when the NHL's top goal scorer got past top defensemen Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh and beat Lundqvist with a top-shelf shot as he was falling to the ice.
After killing off a late penalty, Washington pulled Holtby and came close to tying the game, but Lundqvist stopped Troy Brouwer in close in the final minute.
The Rangers were looking for a response after losing Game 1 on a goal by Joel Ward with 1.3 seconds left. They only needed 38 seconds to get it and send the sellout crowd at Madison Square into a frenzy.
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It was like Game 1 against the Penguins when Brassard scored 28 seconds after the opening-round series started.
This time it was Kreider. He deflected a pass by defenseman Kevin Klein into the Washington zone and then went to the net and fired the rebound of Jesper Fast's shot into an open net for a quick lead.
It opened a dominant first period in which New York outshot the Capitals 15-4, and resulted in a 2-0 lead.
