Panthers Bounce Capitals

     The Florida Panthers defeated the Washington Capitals 6-3 at Captial One Arena on Thursday night. The Capitals and the Panthers were battling for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Both clubs now have a total of 62 points each. 

     The Panthers had not played in that venue since May 13, 2022. Florida was in that arena when they clinched their first postseason series since 1996 winning Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. 

     Florida(28-24-6) got ahead 1-0 at the 9:05 mark of the first period. Carter Verhaeghe passed from the right wing and Eetu Luostarinen placed a cross-ice pass from the top right circle. Gustav Forsling snapped a shot from the top left circle past Darcy Kuemper for his eighth goal of the campaign. 

     In the second period, the Panthers increased it 2-0 at 1:32. Verhaeghe connected a pass from the right corner to Brandon Montour on the left point. He made a square pass and Marc Staal blasted a one-time slap shot from the right point for his first goal in a Panthers jersey. It was Staal's first goal in a 76-game span since last March. 

     It became 3-0 for Florida at the 7:20 mark of the second. Anton Lundell sent a diagonal pass from the left side of the Capitals blue line. Colin White skated through the slot area and shoveled in a backhand shot for his seventh goal this year. 

     Washington(28-23-6) broke the shutout with 4:09 to go in the period and trailed 3-1. T.J. Oshie fired a slap shot from the left point and Dylan Strome deflected it in from the high slot by Sergei Bobrovsky for his 12th goal of the season. 

     The Cats regained a three-goal lead 4-1 with 2:57 remaining in the second. Aleksander Barkov carried the puck into the Caps zone on the right side and then snapped a shot from the right circle for his 16th goal this season. Givani Smith was credited with an assist on the play. 

     The Capitals scored on the power play with 6:56 left in the third period and were down 4-2. Erik Gustafsson stopped a clearing pass on the right point and passed it to his left. Nicklas Backstrom released a forehand shot from top left circle for just his third tally of the year. 

     Washington pulled their goalie on the start of a power play with 3:19 to go. They picked up a goal with 2:32 remaining by Evgeny Kuznetsov from the right of the crease. 

     The Caps added an extra attacker again and it did not work. Lundell found the empty net for his eighth goal with 1:21 left to give Florida a 5-3 lead. 

     Sam Reinhart added an empty-net goal with 14.4 seconds remaining in the contest for a three-goal margin. Reinhart reached the 20-goal mark for the sixth straight season and seventh time in eight seasons.