ARLINGTON, Va. — Washington Capitals players tapped the ice with sticks when Joel Ward skated onto the rink for practice last Friday, and some fans rose for a standing ovation in support of the player whose series-winning goal was greeted with a racial outburst on Twitter.

The 31-year-old left wing, one of a handful of black players in the NHL, was the target of numerous degrading tweets after he scored in overtime of Game 7 on Wednesday to end the first-round series against the 2011 champion, Boston Bruins.

The hockey community has rallied around Ward. Both the Bruins and the NHL quickly condemned the tweets, as did Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, who wrote on his blog: “Shame on these folks who decided to take to their keyboards and show their ignorance and their racism and hate.”

“There’s been a lot of support from everybody, especially my teammates and the whole organization and the Bruins, and some of their fans,” Ward said. “I was blown away by the amount of people and the amount of support.”

There is irony in this OT game winning goal coming against Boston and the reaction from Bruins “fans.” Ward scored the goal against Tim Thomas, the goaltender who refused to attend the White House celebration of the Bruins’ championship because of his disdain of President Obama.