by Jordan Fickling, sports editor

National Hockey League’s Eastern Conference semis kicked off with a bang when rivals New York Rangers and Washington Capitals squared off for supremacy. Wednesday April 30th will be a day of infamy in Ranger history.

Many fans expected the Rangers to take an easy lead considering this game was contested at Madison Square Garden, their home ice.

This was not the case, as Washington managed to not only hold their own against New York, but they actually came away with the upset.

With the score tied at one goal apiece, Capitals forward Joel Ward broke the hearts of many by scoring a game winning goal (2-1). This goal came off an assist from Left Wing  Alex Ovechkin.

“We were just high-fiving, dancing. I didn’t even know if I beat the buzzer or not,” Ward said.

New York Ranger players were shocked and livid at what transpired. They seemed to be playing with an expectation that the game was going to go into overtime, as they were prepared  to wrap up the game then.

Fans were even more distraught as they wanted to see New York make easy work of Washington based off of the auspicious start the Rangers had.

“It was utterly disgusting. We outplayed them the entire game and the Capitals won with only 1.2 seconds left. Everything stopped in the Garden. Everybody couldn’t believe that goal was legit,” Spanish teacher Mr. Reff said.

Washington still has their work cut out for them. Despite the fact that they secured an always important game one lead, New York will be prepared and ready for revenge at the Garden.

Game Two takes place on Saturday, May 2nd at noon. It is imperative for the Rangers to win this game and prevent Washington to build even more momentum going into an inevitable game three which will take place at Washington on May 6th.

“I really hope the Rangers win this series, they’re the last team to represent the state of New York. Washington eliminated the Islanders in the last playoff round and this is why I do not like them,” sophomore Mike Hua said.