The Capitals lead in the Eastern Conference and Metropolitan Division. The Panthers remain ahead in the Atlantic Division.
Washington(35-11-7) scooted out to a 1-0 advantage with 5:52 left in the first period. Andrew Mangiapane collected his 11th goal of the season on a snap shot from the low left circle by Sergei Bobrovsky.
Florida(32-20-3) tied it 1-1 with 29.7 seconds remaining in the period. Sam Bennett got to his own rebound and backhanded a shot from the low slot past Logan Thompson for his 17th goal this season.
In the second period, the Caps moved ahead 2-1 at the 1:15 mark. Tom Wilson snapped a shot from the inner left circle for his 22nd goal of the campaign.
The Panthers evened it up 2-2 just three minutes later. Sam Reinhart poked the puck ahead and Carter Verhaeghe sent a long lead pass from his own blue line. Aleksander Barkov came in on a breakaway and slipped in a backhand shot from the right side of the crease for his 13th goal in 2024-25. Barkov and Reinhart increased their point streaks to four games.
The Capitals expanded their lead to 4-2 with two goals in the first seven minutes of the third period. Lars Eller placed in a wrist shot from close range at 2:10 and Nik Dowd put in a forehand shot from the top of the crease at the 6:10 mark.
The Cats closed it to 4-3 with 12:14 to go in the third. Matthew Tkachuk powered in a snap shot from the the right-circle dot for his 19th goal of the season.
Washington added two empty-net tallies in the final two minutes of play. Aliaksei Protas was able to score with 1:39 remaining in the period. Alex Ovechkin got his 878th career goal with 0.1 seconds left which leaves him 17 goals away from Wayne Gretzky for the NHL all-time record.
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