NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers were 101 seconds from elimination at the hands of goaltender Braden Holtby and the Washington Capitals. Try as they did, the Rangers could not solve Holtby, who was less than two minutes from his second shutout of the series.

Then, left winger Chris Kreider struck with 1:41 remaining to send the game to overtime.

Then, defenseman Ryan McDonagh scored at 9:37 of the extra session to give the Rangers a stirring 2-1 victory in Game 5 of this second-round series at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.

The Capitals still hold a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 6 set for Sunday at Verizon center in the nation's capital, but the lead feels tenuous at best.

Holtby had allowed five goals all series before Kreider broke through on the Rangers' 35th shot of the night. Despite staring a frustrating end to the season in the eye, the Rangers' never stopped pressing for the tying and eventual winning goals against the postseason's hottest goaltender.

"It's a definitely a challenge to not get frustrated, and I'm just the goalie," said Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 28 shots. "Imagine the players working so hard to create the chances and really wanting to score and help the team. The only thing you can do is encourage each other to keep working hard and stay the course."

A case can be made that the Rangers have controlled the play territorially in all five games: they have outshot the Capitals in every game except for Game 4, when the Capitals held a 30-29 edge.

Holtby turned aside chance after chance Friday, including a pair of point-blank chances by Rangers right winger Martin St. Louis.

But it was a long shot through a screen by Kreider that gave the Rangers' their first goal, then it was a patient setup by center Derek Stepan for McDonagh, who buried his chance from about the same spot as Kreider for the winner.

"We're just trying to continue to play the right way," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "I think we've been playing some solid hockey at both ends of the rink against a very good team. At the end of the day, we're still breathing."

Holtby said he never saw Kreider's shot that tied the game and had his vision even more obscured on McDonagh's winner.

"It was passed to Stepan and it looked like he was going to shoot," Holtby said. "I lost him a bit with bodies in front. I saw that he dropped it back and I didn't know where it went. I heard it hit a stick and then that was it."

Left winger Curtis Glencross gave the Capitals a brief 1-0 advantage when he scored off his own breakaway rebound with 9:06 remaining. Perhaps that lead could have been 2-0 if not for a controversial call that went against the Capitals late in the second period.

Defenseman Matt Niskanen fired a shot that deflected off right winger Joel Ward in front of the net and caromed behind the Lundqvist for what appeared to be a goal. But the goal was waved off, as a referee ruled that Ward prevented Lundqvist from making the initial save by making contact with Lundqvist just outside the crease.

"(The officials) said there was incidental contact," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. "We felt that (Ward) was pushed in. They made the call and that was it. On that one, I felt two things -- that Lundqvist came out outside the blue and engaged a little bit of contact and then Ward was pushed in."

It matters not, especially since Glencross had the Capitals on the precipice of their first conference finals appearance since 1998 and they could not hold the lead.

It may not bode well for Game 6: The Capitals are 3-10 in their last 13 series-clinching games. The Rangers are 12-3 in their last 15 elimination games.

If the Rangers continue to run the show at even strength in Game 6, it may be asking too much of Holtby to have him steal yet another game while under siege.

"You've got to keep yourself calm and focused," McDonagh said. "We continue to try and find ways and we'll continue to look at some things that we can continue to do better. It's a good sign for us that we found a way to win this game under immense pressure."

NOTES: The Capitals iced the same lineup they used in Game 4. ... Capitals RW Eric Fehr (upper body) did not participate in the team's morning skate and has not played since Game 3 of the first round. ... Rangers LW Mats Zuccarello is considered day-to-day with what is likely a concussion suffered at the end of the first round. ... The Rangers made zero changes to their lineup after Game 4. ... The Rangers are 9-0 when facing elimination at home since 2008.