Washington Capitals (14-3-5 33pts) v. Florida Panthers (14-4-3 31pts)
Game Recap:
Back in Sunrise, FL to finish their three game regular season series against the Florida Panthers, the Washington Capitals look to continue their winning ways as they end the month of November as they started it, playing in the state of Florida.
In the first period it would be the kids for the Caps as Connor McMichael would net his third of the season, and then 11 seconds later Beck Malenstyn would score his first career NHL goal to give the Caps the 2-0 lead. However, 52 seconds later Joe Thornton would be sitting on the doorstep and tap in the puck for his second of the season, and 1,533rd NHL career point to tie Mark Recchi for 12th all time in the NHL, to bring the Panthers back within one. Later in the period the Caps would hop on the powerplay for the first time in the game, but they would be unable to capitalize on the man advantage. Both teams would trade chances but neither team would score as the Caps would take the 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
In the second period both teams would open up the period trading chances, but as the period went on the Caps would swing the momentum in their favor. It would pay off as Lars Eller would score on the backhand to give the Capitals their two goal lead back, and come the midway point of the period the Caps would be outshooting the Panthers 5 to 1. After the goal things would get chippy as we would see rough housing after the whistle caused by Ilya Samsonov pushing the net further off it’s borings, and two players from each side would go off for roughing. After the mayhem Nick Jensen would rip one to the roof and behind the water bottle to grow the Caps lead the three. Tom Wilson would get hit for holding, and put the Panthers on the powerplay, but the Caps would play solid penalty killing to protect their three goal lead. The period would continue to get chippy as the period came to an end, and the Capitals would take the 4-1 lead over the Panthers into the second intermission.
Then in the third period the Panthers would pounce on the Caps as Ryan Lomberg would score it the opening minutes of the period to cut the Panthers deficit to two, and in the first five minutes of the third the Panthers would out shoot the Caps 9 to 0. However, the Caps would catch a break as Frank Vatrano would be called for tripping, but the Caps powerplay waould falter as Eetu Luostarinen would strike shorthanded to get the Panthers back within one of the Caps. Moments later Tom Wilson would be called for his second penalty of the game to put the Panthers on the powerplay. The Caps would kill off the penalty, but the Panthers would keep the pressure going in the Caps zone as Dennis Cholowski would get called for cross checking to put the Panthers back on the powerplay. This time on the powerplay Sam Bennett would tip in an Aaron Ekblad point blast to get the powerplay goal to tie the game at four. With five minutes left in regulation the Panthers would be outshooting the Capitals 23 to 2. In the final minute of the period the Caps would finally apply some pressure in the Panthers’ zone, but Malenstyn would get called for goalie interference to give the Panthers a powerplay that they would score on as Sam Reinhart would strike on the wrister to give the Panthers the 5-4 comeback victory.
Lineups:
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Aliaksei Protas
Connor McMichael — Lars Eller — Tom Wilson
Carl Hagelin — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Brett Leason — Michael Sgarbossa — Beck Malenstyn
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen
Dennis Cholowski — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Ilya Samsonov
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Matt Irwin, Daniel Sprong
Injured: Nicklas Backstrom (hip), Anthony Mantha (shoulder), Conor Sheary (upper body), T.J. Oshie (lower body), Justin Schultz (upper body)
Florida Panthers:
Jonathan Huberdeau — Sam Bennett — Owen Tippett
Carter Verhaeghe — Anton Lundell — Sam Reinhart
Frank Vatrano — Joe Thornton — Maxim Mamin
Ryan Lomberg — Eetu Luostarinen — Patric Hornqvist
MacKenzie Weegar — Aaron Ekblad
Matt Kiersted — Radko Gudas
Lucas Carlsson — Brandon Montour
Sergei Bobrovsky
Spencer Knight
Scratched: Kevin Connauton, Aleksi Heponiemi
Injured: Aleksander Barkov (knee), Mason Marchment (upper body), Markus Nutivaara (lower body), Anthony Duclair (lower body), Gustav Forsling (lower body)
First Period:
WAS Goal – 5:52 – Connor McMichael (3) from Nick Jensen (6) and Dmitry Orlov (9)
WAS Goal – 6:03 – Beck Malenstyn (1) from Brett Leason (2) and Trevor van Riemsdyk (7)
FLA Goal – 6:55 – Joe Thornton (2) from Aaron Ekblad (12) and Jonathan Huberdeau (14)
FLA Penalty – 13:38 – Frank Vatrano 2 minutes for High Sticking
| End of First | WAS – 2 | FLA – 1 |
| Shots | 12 | 15 |
| Faceoff Wins | 13 | 13 |
| Hits | 16 | 11 |
| Powerplay | 0/1 | 0/0 |
Second Period:
WAS Goal – 6:40 – Lars Eller (2) from Tom Wilson (15) and Dmitry Orlov (10)
WAS Penalty – 10:35 – Martin Fehervary 2 minutes for Roughing
FLA Penalty – 10:35 – Jonathan Huberdeau 2 minutes for Roughing
WAS Penalty – 10:35 – Garnet Hathaway 2 minutes for Roughing
FLA Penalty – 10:35 – MacKenzie Weegar 2 minutes for Roughing
WAS Goal – 12:40 – Nick Jensen (3) from Nic Dowd (3) from Beck Malenstyn (1)
WAS Penalty – 13:03 – Tom Wilson 2 minutes for Holding
| End of Second | WAS – 4 | FLA – 1 |
| Shots | 25 | 24 |
| Faceoff Wins | 22 | 26 |
| Hits | 30 | 25 |
| Powerplay | 0/1 | 0/1 |
Third Period:
FLA Goal – 3:23 – Ryan Lomberg (2) from Patric Honqvist (8) and Eetu Luostarinen (1)
FLA Penalty – 5:36 – Frank Vatrano 2 minutes for Tripping
FLA SHG – 6:09 – Eetu Loustarinen (7) from Ryan Lomberg (3) and MacKenzie Weegar (12)
WAS Penalty – 8:18 – Tom Wilson 2 minutes for Interference
WAS Penalty – 11:27 – Dennis Cholowski 2 minutes for Cross Checking
FLA PPG – 12:01 – Sam Bennett (8) from Aaron Ekblad (13) and Jonathan Huberdeau (15)
WAS Penalty – 19:03 – Beck Malenstyn 2 minutes for Goalie Interference
FLA PPG – 19:45 – Sam Reinhart (5) from Jonathan Huberdeau (16) and Aaron Ekblad (14)
| End of Third | WAS – 4 | FLA – 5 |
| Shots | 27 | 50 |
| Faceoff Wins | 32 | 36 |
| Hits | 35 | 35 |
| Powerplay | 0/2 | 2/4 |
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