Washington Capitals (8-7-1 17pts) v. Florida Panthers (8-7-1 17pts)
Game Recap
Coming off a huge victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, the Washington Capitals wrap up their 4 game road trip in Florida with a battle against the defending back to back Stanley Cup champion Panthers, and in the first period, the Capitals would dominate the Panthers outshooting them 8 to 2 in the first 9 minutes of the game, and it would pay off for the Capitals. At the 8:25 mark of the first period, Brandon Duhaime would score on a scramble to give the Capitals the 1-0 lead, but less than 30 seconds later, Evan Rodrigues would score to tie the game a one for the Panthers. Later in the period, Seth Jones would go off for interference, but the Capitals would not be able to take advantage of their first powerplay of the game. It would be a good showing for the Capitals during this very fast moving first period. The Capitals would outshoot the Panthers 17 to 7, but after scoring the first goal, they would allow the Panthers to tie it up very quickly.
To start the second period, the Capitals would start on the wrong foot as Tom Wilson would take a penalty 41 seconds into the period to give the Panthers their first powerplay of the game. The Panthers would not strike while on the powerplay, but shortly after the extra man advantage would expire, Cole Schwindt would deflect a shot past Logan Thompson to give the Panthers the 2-1 lead. Later in the period, Jakob Chychrun would taking a tripping penalty to give the Panthers their second powerplay for the period, and they would not score one it, but the Capitals would go back to the box right away due to a too many men on the ice penalty and this time, the Panthers would score as Sam Reinhart would get the rebound to score and grow the Panthers lead to two. This was another fast moving period, but one where the Capitals shot themselves in the foot one too many times with too many penalties and some defensive breakdowns that allowed the Panthers to take the 3-1 lead into the second intermission.
Then in the third period, Justin Sourdif would strike 52 seconds into the period against his former team to get the Capitals back within one. It was a beautiful play by Jakob Chychrun to feed the puck to a net crashing Sourdif to get the goal. However, moments later, the Capitals would turnover the puck behind the net and Reinhart would net his second of the game for his tenth of the season to regain the two goal lead for the Panthers. Later in the period Nic Dowd would get a double whammy of penalties to put the Panthers on a 4 minute powerplay, and while the Capitals would kill off the first half of the powerplay, the Panthers would strike on the later half on a bullet of a shot by Seth Jones from the point to give the Panthers the three goal lead. After giving up the powerplay tally, the Capitals would swarm the Panthers zone and their hard work would pay off as Rasmus Sandin would score from the point to get the Capitals back within two. Less than a minute later the Capitals would get their second powerplay opportunity of the game as Donovan Sebrango would be called for holding. However, for the Capitals, they would not do much with the extra man advantage. With two minutes left in regulation, the Capitals would pull Logan Thompson for the extra attacker, but Eetu Luostarinen would get the empty netter to give the Panthers the eventual 6-3 victory over the Capitals. Brad Marchand’s assist on the empty netter would be his 1,000th career NHL point.
Lineups:
Washington Capitals
Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Anthony Beauvillier
Aliaksei Protas — Connor McMichael — Tom Wilson
Ethen Frank — Hendrix Lapierre — Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Justin Sourdif
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun — Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin — Declan Chisholm
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: Sonny Milano, Dylan McIlrath, Trevor van Riemsdyk
Injured: Pierre-Luc Dubois (lower body)
Florida Panthers
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Brad Marchand
Carter Verhaeghe — Evan Rodrigues — Sam Reinhart
Jesper Boqvist — Sam Bennett — Mackie Samoskevich
A.J. Greer — Cole Schwindt — Luke Kunin
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Seth Jones
Donovan Sebrango — Jeff Petry
Daniil Tarasov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: Uvis Balinskis, Noah Gregor
Injured: Aleksander Barkov (knee), Matthew Tkachuk (lower body), Tomas Nosek (knee), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder)
First Period
WAS Goal – 8:25 – Brandon Duhaime (3) from Rasmus Sandin (4)
FLA Goal – 8:52 – Evan Rodrigues (4) from Niko Mikkola (3)
FLA Penalty – 14:33 – Seth Jones – 2 minutes for Interference
| End of First | WAS – 1 | FLA – 1 |
| Shots | 17 | 6 |
| Faceoff Wins | 12/23 | 11/23 |
| Hits | 3 | 10 |
| Powerplay | 0/1 | N/A |
Second Period
WAS Penalty – 0:41 – Tom Wilson – 2 minutes for Holding
FLA Goal – 3:05 – Cole Schwindt (2) from Gustav Forsling (8) and Eetu Luostarinen (6)
WAS Penalty – 11:55 – Jakob Chychrun – 2 minutes for Tripping
WAS Penalty – 14:21 – Bench – 2 minutes for Too Many Men on the Ice
FLA PPG – 14:41 – Sam Reinhart (9) from Carter Verhaeghe (6) and Seth Jones (8)
| End of Second | WAS – 1 | FLA – 3 |
| Shots | 27 | 19 |
| Faceoff Wins | 21/44 | 23/44 |
| Hits | 7 | 16 |
| Powerplay | 0/1 | 1/3 |
Third Period
WAS Goal – 0:52 – Justin Sourdif (2) from Jakob Chychrun (8) and Tom Wilson (8)
FLA Goal – 4:54 – Sam Reinhart (10) from Anton Lundell (8) and Eetu Luostarinen (7)
WAS Penalty – 6:35 – Nic Dowd – 2 minutes for Hooking
WAS Penalty – 6:35 – Nic Dowd – 2 minutes for Unsportsmanlike Conduct
FLA PPG – 9:50 – Seth Jones (1) from Brad Marchand (8) and Anton Lundell (9)
WAS Goal – 12:40 – Rasmus Sandin (2) from John Carlson (10)
FLA Penalty – 13:37 – Donovan Sebrango – 2 minutes for Holding
FLA ENG – 18:30 – Eetu Luostarinen (3) from Brad Marchand (9) and Anton Lundell (10)
| End of Third | WAS – 3 | FLA – 6 |
| Shots | 40 | 28 |
| Faceoff Wins | 31/59 | 28/59 |
| Hits | 14 | 22 |
| Powerplay | 0/2 | 2/5 |
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