Washington Capitals (47-24-8 102pts) v. Florida Panthers (35-32-12 82pts)
Game Recap:
In their final road game of the regular season, the Washington Capitals visit the Florida Panthers with a chance to clinch the Metropolitan Division title for the fourth season in a row. However, the Panthers would have different ideas as they would strike first to put the Capitals in an early 1-0 deficit on a Frank Vatrano goal.
Then in the second period, the Panthers would continue to push the play as Jonathan Huberdeau would bank in the loose puck past Pheonix Copley to make it 2-0. Then while the Capitals were on the lone powerplay of the period Vincent Trocheck would blast a shot five hole on Copley to give the Panthers a three goal lead while shorthanded. And to end the period for the Panthers it would be former Capital Troy Brouwer getting the goal off of a beautiful Aleksander Barkov pass to make it 4-0 going into the second intermission.
Halfway thru the third period the Capitals would come alive as Evgeny Kuznetsov would get the Capitals on the board with the hopes of a late comeback victory. Then after a failed powerplay opportunity the Capitals would strike again as Nicklas Backstrom would be the recipient of a TJ Oshie pass in front of the net to cut the Panthers lead to two. And Oshie would not be done there as with Copley pulled for the extra attacker, Oshie would find an open Jakub Vrana to cut the Panthers lead to one. However, despite their best efforts, Vincent Trocheck would ice the game for the Panthers with an empty net goal in the final minute to win the game 5-3 for the Panthers.
Lineups:
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson
Carl Hagelin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — T.J. Oshie
Jakub Vrana — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly
Andre Burakovsky — Nic Dowd — Chandler Stephenson
Matt Niskanen — Dmitry Orlov
Christian Djoos — John Carlson
Nick Jensen — Brooks Orpik
Pheonix Copley
Braden Holtby
Scratched: Dmitrij Jaskin, Jonas Siegenthaler, Travis Boyd
Injured: Michal Kempny (lower body)
Florida Panthers:
Jonathan Huberdeau — Aleksander Barkov — Evgenii Dadonov
Mike Hoffman — Vincent Trocheck — Jayce Hawryluk
Frank Vatrano — Riley Sheahan — Troy Brouwer
Dryden Hunt — Henrik Borgstrom — Colton Sceviour
Mike Matheson — Aaron Ekblad
Keith Yandle — MacKenzie Weegar
Mark Pysyk — Josh Brown
Sam Montembeault
Scratched: Jamie McGinn, Denis Malgin, Ian McCoshen, Brady Keeper, James Reimer
Injured: Derek MacKenzie (shoulder)
First Period:
Panthers Goal – 13:48 – Frank Vatrano (24) from Colton Sceviour (10) and Henrik Borgstrom (10)
Capitals Penalty – 16:30 – Nicklas Backstrom 2 minutes for Holding
End of 1st – WAS – 0 FLA – 1
Shots 05 14
Faceoffs 11 10
PP 0/0 0/1
Second Period:
Panthers Goal – 3:34 – Jonathan Huberdeau (28) from unassisted
Panthers Penalty – 11:48 – Frank Vatrano 2 minutes for Holding
Panthers SHG – 12:01 – Vincent Trocheck (9) from Aleksander Barkov (58) and Mike Matheson (19)
Panthers Goal – 17:57 – Troy Brouwer (12) from Aleksander Barkov (59) and Dryden Hunt (7)
End of 2nd – WAS – 0 FLA – 4
Shots 19 24
Faceoffs 21 16
PP 0/1 0/1
Third Period:
Capitals Penalty – :41 – Tom Wilson 2 minutes for Hooking
Capitals Goal – 10:55 – Evgeny Kuznetsov (21) from John Carlson (57)
Panthers Penalty – 11:45 – Vincent Trocheck 2 minutes for Tripping
Capitals Goal – 16:25 – Nicklas Backstrom (22) from TJ Oshie (28) and Alex Ovechkin (38)
Capitals Goal – 17:39 – Jakub Vrana (24) from TJ Oshie (29) and Matt Niskanen (17)
Panthers ENG – 19:33 – Vincent Trocheck (10) from Evgenii Dadonov (41) and Aleksander Barkov (60)
End of 3rd – WAS – 3 FLA – 5
Shots 30 34
Faceoffs 32 29
Hits 35 29
PP 0/2 0/2
Next Up:
Washington (47-25-8 102pts) v. Montreal (42-29-8 92pts)
Florida (36-32-12 84pts) v. NY Islanders (46-27-7 99pts)
