NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers were obviously still stunned in the dressing room Thursday after they lost 2-1 against the Washington Capitals on Joel Ward's goal with 1.3 seconds remaining in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Madison Square Garden.

It was a tough loss for the Rangers, who will try to bounce back in Game 2 on Saturday (12:30 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVA Sports). And if they do, it will likely be the result of capitalizing on more offensive chances.

The Rangers had a strong start, outshooting the Capitals 8-1 before eight minutes passed. But they were unable to solve Washington goalie Braden Holtby (31 saves), who was busier in the first period Thursday than all of Game 7 of the first round against the New York Islanders on Monday, when he made 10 saves in a 2-1 win.

"Our execution in the offensive zone obviously needs to be better," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "We spent quite a bit of time in their end. We had some opportunities to get better looks than we did. We are going to have to [get better looks]. That's going to be one of our focuses for the next game."

Holtby kept New York off the scoreboard until 15:21 of the third period, when Jesper Fast scored his first Stanley Cup Playoff goal. It was the culmination of an impressive shift by the Rangers, who cycled the puck effectively, and after Capitals forward Jay Beagle failed to clear the puck, Kevin Hayes turned around and sent a wrist shot from just inside the point that Fast redirected past Holtby to make it 1-1.

"We got momentum, they got momentum," said Rangers forward Martin St. Louis, who has one assist in six playoff games. "Both teams had sustained offensive-zone pressure. We were able to get a big goal by [Fast] there, and I felt really confident taking that game into overtime. It just didn't happen."

The Rangers eliminated the Pittsburgh Penguins in five games in the first round, with each of their four wins by a 2-1 score. They are confident they can win low-scoring games in front of goalie Henrik Lundqvist, but they realize they need to generate more offensively if they hope to make a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

Through six playoff games, St. Louis, Rick Nash and Chris Kreider have combined for one goal. Without forward Mats Zuccarello, who is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, the pressure is likely to mount on the Rangers' top forwards to score.

New York was 0-for-2 on the power play in Game 1.

"It's easy to dissect it now and say that we want to get more traffic, more bodies [in front of the net]," Rangers center Derek Stepan said. "Obviously, adjustments will be made, and I think one of the biggest adjustments is just shooting more pucks."

Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh, who had one shot on goal in 22:05, believes that offense can come in the transition game should he and New York's other defensemen take care of their responsibilities in their end.

"A couple of times we passed up some shots, especially early on in the first couple of periods," McDonagh said. "The third period we tried to throw a lot more at the net, and you see what happens. We found a way to get one, so we continue to work hard to get on the inside of their D-men, get to those rebounds a little bit more and continue to defend well in fives.

"I thought we, for the majority of the game, kept their Grade-A chances down, so that's an area we have to continue, and our offense will come off of that."

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