Capitals Jump On Panthers

    The Florida Panthers made a visit to the nation's capital they wished they had not as were crushed by the Washington Capitals 7-1 on Thursday night at Verizon Center. It was a battle between two teams who entered the game tied for last in the Southeast Division and the Eastern Conference. The Cats surrendered four goals just over eight minutes into the contest.
    Washington(10-11-1) scored on their first two shots of the game against Florida goalie Jacob Markstrom. Defenseman John Erskine carried the puck through the neutral zone and fired a slaphot that went under Markstrom's right arm at 1:58.
    The Capitals then got former Panther left wing Wojtek Wolski to bring the puck from the right corner and made a wrist shot from the right of the crease at 3:10 for a 2-0 lead. Markstrom was pulled by Panthers head coach Kevin Dineen and replaced by Scott Clemmensen after the goal.
     It did not change the momentum because four shots later Capitals defenseman John Carlson scored from the right point following a right circle face-off win by right wing Troy Brouwer at 5:38.   
    Florida(7-12-5) fell behind 4-0 at 8:10 when left wing Alex Ovechkin picked up a loose puck on the end wall and sent it to the slot where center Mike Ribeiro blasted a one-time slapshot.
    The Panthers gave up a power-play goal by Ovechkin at 9:17 of the second period. Ribeiro passed the puck from the right circle to the slot and Brouwer steered it to the left circle for Ovechkin to get the one-time slapshot.
    Washington scored on another power play in the third period at 4:08. Wolski was in the low right circle when he connected with a cross-ice pass to the low left circle where right wing Eric Fehr came through with a wrist shot.
    The Cats broke the shutout with 9:11 left in the third period as left wing Jack Skille ripped a wrist shot from the slot area over the right shoulder of Capitals goalie Braden Holtby for his third goal this season. Center Shawn Matthias was credited with an assist on the play to make it 6-1.
    The Caps added an additional goal late in the third period as center Mathieu Perrault released a wrist shot from the inner edge of the right circle with 59 seconds left.  
    Markstrom dropped his record to 1-3-0 this season as he gave up two goals on two shots in just three minutes of play. Clemmensen stopped 19 of 23 shots in over 56 minutes. Holtby got the win as he jumped to 9-7-0 with 29 saves. The Panthers went 0-for-2 on the power play while the Capitals went 2-for-3. The Cats will begin a three-game home stand on Friday night against the Winnipeg Jets.