Marcus Johansson scored his second goal of the game at 6:31 of overtime as the Washington Capitals defeated Toronto 2-1 on Sunday to win their first round playoff series four games to two.

The 26-year-old Swedish forward also scored in the third period to tie the game and force overtime in the best-of-seven National Hockey League playoff series.

"This is the playoffs. It's going to be tight, it's never going to be an easy ride," said Johansson. "But I think it's good for us where we got a start where everything didn't go smoothly.

"You kind of get right into it, and you have to work hard for it and battle for it."

The Capitals will face Sidney Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday in second round action while the New York Rangers battle the Ottawa Senators in the other Eastern Conference series.

On the game-winner, Johansson knocked in the puck after Justin Williams got it to the front of the net.

It was the fifth game of the series to be decided in overtime and all six were decided by one goal.

American rookie Auston Matthews scored for Toronto early in the third period by deftly balancing a rolling puck on the blade of his stick and lifting it into the top corner.

The game turned into a battle of goaltenders as Washington's Braden Holtby made 37 saves and Toronto's Frederik Andersen finished with 34 stops.

In Boston, Clarke MacArthur scored a power-play goal 6:30 into overtime to give Ottawa a 3-2 victory that advanced the Senators.

Ottawa won the first-round series 4-2 and face the Rangers, who ousted Montreal.

MacArthur only returned to the Senators on April 4 after an 18-month absence following a concussion suffered in October 2015 against Columbus.

The 32-year-old left wing missed 156 games and played only four regular season games this month but netted two precious goals in six playoff contests against Boston, the biggest the series winner.

The Senators won three games of the series in overtime on the way to capturing only their second playoff series triumph in a decade.

The two other NHL quarter-finals series were determined Saturday as the St. Louis Blues take on the Nashville Predators and the Edmonton Oilers square off against the Anaheim Ducks.

The Blues and Predators kick off their series on Wednesday night in St. Louis followed by the Oilers at Anaheim the same night.

source: AFP