Florida Panthers v. Washington Capitals
Game 6 – FLA Leads 3-2
Game Recap:
Heading back home for potentially the last time this season, the Washington Capitals would host the Florida Panthers in a pivotal Game 6 as they look to tie the series. In the first period things would get physical quickly as Alex Ovechkin would layout Aaron Ekblad that would knock him out of the first period, and the physicality would continue as the Caps would out hit the Panthers 26 to 13 in the first period. Later in the period both teams would trade powerplay opportunities, but both teams would be up to the task and kill off the lone powerplay chances both teams had in the first.
In the second period the Caps would continue to grind down the Panthers as Nic Dowd would battle his way to the slot area to score to give the Caps the 1-0 lead. Really great awareness from Dowd as he realized he initially hit the crossbar, and was able to get his rebound to bury it past Sergei Bobrovsky to get the Caps on the board first. However, the lead would not last long as moments later Ryan Lomberg would strike to tie the game at one for the Panthers. Sam Bennett would take his second penalty of the game to put the Caps on the powerplay, but once again the Caps would not be able to capitalize on the extra man advantage. In the final five minutes of the period Nicklas Backstrom would head to the box for hooking, and with the powerplay the Panthers would not be able to take advantage as the Caps would kill off the penalty.
Then in the third period the Caps would strike 97 seconds into the period as Nicklas Backstrom would redirect a Justin Schultz point blast to give the Capitals the 2-1 lead. Shortly after the go ahead goal the Caps would go back to the powerplay as Ben Chiarot would get called for cross checking. On the powerplay the Caps would not capitalize on the opportunity. Later in the period though the Caps would get a little passive and as a result Claude Giroux would get off a beautiful snipe past Ilya Samsonov to tie the game at two for the Panthers. Then with a little over five minutes left in the period Aleksander Barkov would score on a rebound to give the Panthers the lead. However in the final minutes of the period the Caps would go on the powerplay and chaos would ensue as TJ Oshie would score to tie the game at three to send this one to overtime.
In overtime it would be Carter Verhaeghe with his sixth of the series to give the Panthers the 4-3 victory over the Capitals to move on to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 1996.
Lineups:
Florida Panthers:
Carter Verhaeghe — Aleksander Barkov — Claude Giroux
Jonathan Huberdeau — Sam Bennett — Sam Reinhart
Maxim Mamin — Anton Lundell — Noel Acciari
Ryan Lomberg — Eetu Luostarinen — Patric Hornqvist
Ben Chiarot — Aaron Ekblad
Gustav Forsling — MacKenzie Weegar
Radko Gudas — Brandon Montour
Sergei Bobrovsky
Spencer Knight
Scratched: Petteri Lindbohm, Joe Thornton, Lucas Carlsson, Mason Marchment, Robert Hagg, Jonas Johansson, Anthony Duclair
Injured: Markus Nutivaara (undisclosed)
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Conor Sheary
Marcus Johansson — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie
Connor McMichael — Lars Eller — Anthony Mantha
Johan Larsson — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen
Trevor van Riemsdyk — Justin Schultz
Ilya Samsonov
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Matt Irwin, Michal Kempny, Pheonix Copley
Injured: Carl Hagelin (left eye), Tom Wilson (lower body)
First Period:
WAS Penalty – 10:50 – Nick Jensen 2 minutes for Holding
FLA Penalty – 13:57 – Sam Bennett 2 minutes for Tripping
| End of First | FLA – 0 | WAS – 0 |
| Shots | 8 | 13 |
| Faceoff Wins | 14 | 7 |
| Hits | 11 | 26 |
| Powerplay | 0/1 | 0/1 |
Second Period:
WAS Goal – 3:44 – Nic Dowd (1) from Garnet Hathaway (1) and Johan Larsson (2)
FLA Goal – 6:13 – Ryan Lomberg (1) from Patric Hornqvist (1) and Eetu Luostarinen (1)
FLA Penalty – 8:21 – Sam Bennett 2 minutes for Interference
FLA Penalty – 12:18 – Ryan Lomberg 2 minutes for Embellishment
WAS Penalty – 12:18 – Justin Schultz 2 minutes for Hooking
WAS Penalty – 15:24 – Nicklas Backstrom 2 minutes for Hooking
| End of Second | FLA – 1 | WAS – 1 |
| Shots | 22 | 22 |
| Faceoff Wins | 24 | 22 |
| Hits | 27 | 34 |
| Powerplay | 0/2 | 0/2 |
Third Period:
WAS Goal – 1:37 – Nicklas Backstrom (2) from Justin Schultz (2) and Trevor van Riemsdyk (1)
FLA Penalty – 3:24 – Ben Chiarot 2 minutes for Cross Checking
FLA Goal – 8:18 – Claude Giroux (3) from Aaron Ekblad (4)
FLA Goal – 14:17 – Aleksander Barkov (2) from Claude Giroux (3) and MacKenzie Weegar (1)
FLA Penalty – 18:51 – Gustav Forsling 2 minutes for Tripping
WAS PPG – 18:59 – TJ Oshie (6) from Anthony Mantha (4) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (3)
| End of Third | FLA – 3 | WAS – 3 |
| Shots | 29 | 35 |
| Faceoff Wins | 39 | 36 |
| Hits | 48 | 50 |
| Powerplay | 0/2 | 1/4 |
Overtime:
FLA Goal – 2:46 – Carter Verhaeghe (6) from Claude Giroux (4) and Ben Chiarot (1)
| End of Third | FLA – 4 | WAS – 3 |
| Shots | 31 | 37 |
| Faceoff Wins | 40 | 38 |
| Hits | 50 | 51 |
| Powerplay | 0/2 | 1/4 |
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