The Florida Panthers pulled off a 3-2 comeback victory in overtime over the Washington Capitals in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at Capital One Arena on Monday night. The best-of-seven series between both clubs is now tied 2-2. Game 5 will be played Wednesday night in Sunrise.
Washington rolled out to a 1-0 lead with the man advantage at the 7:15 mark of the first period. Nicklas made a pass from the right goal line. John Carlson blasted a one-time slap shot from the top of the zone and it was deflected in by T.J. Oshie from the low slot past Sergei Bobrovsky for his third goal of the series.
Florida answered back and tied it 1-1 on a 4-on-4 goal with 5:52 remaining in the first. Aaron Ekblad skated into the Caps zone on a 2-on-1 breakaway all the way to the top right circle. He angled a pass to Carter Verhaeghe on the inner left circle and he placed a forehand shot from the top of the crease by Ilya Samsonov for his second tally in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After a scoreless second period, the Capitals pulled ahead 2-1 at 9:31 of the third period. T.J. Oshie bumped Sam Bennett off the puck at the Washington blue line and Alex Ovechkin connected a lead pass from the red line. Evgeny Kuznetsov raced down the right side for a breakaway, crossed through the crease area and lifted a shot from the left of the crease for his second goal this postseason. It was Kuznetsov's 29th goal in his playoff career.
The Panthers pulled their goalie with 3:09 to go in the third for an extra skater. It eventually led to a Florida goal with 2:04 left to even it up 2-2. Aleksander Barkov passed from the right wing and Jonathan Huberdeau had his forward pass from the top of the zone to the left corner go off the left arm of Garnet Hathaway. Sam Reinhart smacked the bouncing puck in from the slot area for his first career playoff goal. Huberdeau passed Ray Sheppard in Florida Panthers franchise history with his 19th career playoff point.
The Cats completed the comeback at 4:57 in overtime. Ekblad fed a pass from inside his own blue line to Verhaeghe at the Capitals blue line. He brought it into the Caps zone and sent a wrist shot on net. Samsonov made the right-kick save, but Verhaeghe hustled in for the rebound and rifled in a slap shot from the left circle. It was Verhaeghe's second goal of the contest and third of this series. Ekblad compiled his first postseason multi-point game.
It turned out to be the fourth overtime goal in Florida Panthers playoff history. The others were Dave Lowry in Game 4 and Mike Hough in Game 5 of the 1996 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Philadelphia Flyers along with Ryan Lomberg in Game 3 at the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
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