Game #2: Thursday, November 7th, Washington Capitals
Whenever the Washington Capitals are in town, there’s plenty of excitement to go around.
The Capitals, similar to Tampa Bay, will be one of the bigger tests for the Panthers this season. With their high-octane offense, defenseman like Aaron Ekblad and Mike Matheson will be heavily tested.
Pieces like Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov (pending suspension), T.J. Oshie, and Nicklas Backstrom are always exciting players to watch live. While they haven’t made too many changes, they are still anticipated to be one of the better teams in the East.
Again, this is a game Panthers fans need to go to because it shows how Florida match up with the rest of the conference. Washington has consistently been one of the better regular-season teams in the Eastern Conference for the last decade and looks to continue that this year.
For Bobrovsky, he’s not just going to have to out-duel the Capitals forwards, but also Braden Holtby. The two had been the best goalies in the Metropolitan Division for the last few years, and both will look to challenge for the Vezina Trophy again this season.
This will also be Brett Connolly‘s first game against his former employers. Connolly spent the last three seasons wearing Capitals colors, recording 96 points in 217 for the D.C. club. Whether he has some inside info to help Joel Quenneville and the Cats will remain unknown, but he will surely play with extra passion against his former team.
Finally, this game marks the return of $5 beer Thursdays. This event will happen just 11 times from October to April, so be sure to pounce on it while you can. If you’re going to go, why not go against the best team that Thursday home games have to offer?