Tuesday night at Capital One Arena in Washington saw a battle between the two top teams in the Eastern Conference, the Washington Capitals (35-11-7) and the Florida Panthers (32-20-3). It was hard fought until the end and the Capitals prevailed potting two empty net goals in a 6-3 win.
Six different Capitals scored in the win and Logan Thompson stopped 30 of 33 shots. Nic Dowd registered a three-point night, the third of his career. Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves on 25 shots in the game.
Game Recap
Within the first 10 minutes, the Panthers lacked discipline and found themselves shorthanded twice for hooking and delay of game. The Panthers were a perfect 2-2 on the penalty kill in the period.
Just after the 14-minute mark, Andrew Mangiapane found himself all alone in the left circle and beat Bobrovsky, short side, by roofing one for the opening goal. Within the waning seconds of the first period, Sam Bennett netted the equalizer at 19:30. His strong forecheck led to a turnover in the Capitals’ zone and he was open in the slot for a shot. Thompson made the initial save, but Bennett pounced on his own rebound and ripped a backhand through to make it 1-1.
The Capitals started the second period shorthanded after a tripping call against Rasmus Sandin. Halfway through the man advantage for the Panthers, Tom Wilson made a quick defensive play on Panthers’ captain Aaron Ekblad at the blue line that led to Aliaksei Protas collecting the loose puck. Protas sent a pass to Wilson who finished with a one-timer, to make it 2-1, for his 22nd goal of the season.
About three minutes later, Aleksander Barkov broke free on a breakaway chance after shifting around defenders in the neutral zone. He withstood a stick lift by Jakob Chychrun and finished on his backhand to tie it 2-2. The Panthers were the more physical team after two periods, leading in the hit department 35 to 13.
Early in the third period, Lars Eller stole the puck at center ice which led to a breakaway. Eller beat Bobrovsky on his forehand after he went for a diving poke check in an attempt to knock the puck away. This put the Capitals up 3-2 early, applying the pressure back onto the Panthers.
Four minutes later, Mangiapane entered the Panthers’ zone looking for an open man. Dowd came bursting into the zone and tipped in the cross-crease pass for a goal while barreling into Bobrovsky. This led to a scrum between both teams that ended in matching roughing penalties.
Sticking to the game script, the Panthers wouldn’t go away easy. A minute and a half after the Dowd goal, Matthew Tkachuk received a set-up pass in the right circle and sniped it over Thompson to make it 4-3. The Capitals’ defense stood tall and stopped the Panthers from scoring for the remainder of the period. However, the scoring didn’t stop for the Capitals. Protas netted an empty net goal, to make it 5-2, for his 22nd of the season.
Just when everyone thought the game was over, Alexander Ovechkin got a chance with the empty net and, from the redline, scored with 0.1 second remaining in regulation to put the cherry on top.
The Capitals will head to Philadelphia to face the Flyers (23-25-6) on Thursday for a one-game road trip. They look to stay in the win column against a struggling team within their division. The Panthers will head back on the road for one more game and face a Western Conference opponent in the St. Louis Blues (24-25-4) with hopes of getting back in the win column.
