Florida Panthers Get Close; Fall to Washington in Overtime, 5-4

After a high scoring battle in South Florida, the Florida Panthers fell to the Washington Capitals in overtime.

The Florida Panthers knew they needed to score a bunch if they wanted a chance against the league-leading Washington Capitals. Going into Thursday’s game, the Capitals were at the top of the league when it came to scoring, averaging almost four goals per game. With two superstar goaltenders between the pipes, it was a matter of who would keep more pucks out of the net.

Two of the world’s finest goaltenders would start tonight: Sergei Bobrovsky for Florida and Braden Holtby for Washington. Both netminders entered the game with six wins on the season, meaning only one would come on top to earn their seventh. Goaltending played a huge part in the game as each team got off to hot starts, with the Caps scoring the game’s first goal.

After a shot was taken from the point, John Carlson potted his first of the night when he tipped it in past Bobrovsky. The puck took a funny bounce after Carlson got his deflection, somehow sliding past the Panther goaltender. Only twenty-five seconds into the game, the Cats got off to a slow start.

Even though the Panthers went down early, they were quick to respond and tie the game. As a Capitals defenseman fell, Frank Vatrano broke free to slide the puck between the legs of Holtby. Off of the turnover, Frankie V made no mistake to pick up his fourth of the year.

As the first period progressed, the Panthers seemed to continue their domination over the Caps. As the period came to a close, the Cats picked up their second goal of the game to take their first lead of the night. As Anton Stralman took his shot from the right side of the point, Brett Connolly deflected the puck past Holtby, picking a goal up against his former team.

Once again, a period started with a quick goal, except this one came from the home team. On a nice feed from Evgenii Dadonov, Florida captain Aleksander Barkov picked up a goal to extend the Panthers’ lead to two. Barkov got his third of the season in as many games.

It seemed inevitable that the Caps would start a comeback, as they got their second of the game from their captain, Alexander Ovechkin. He got the puck to slide it into a wide-open net on the power play, but he wouldn’t stop there. About six minutes later, Ovi got his second of the night, tying the game at three.

Towards the end of the period, each team took their share of penalties, leading to a late Florida power play. With about two minutes to go in the second, the Cats scored on their man-advantage, with Dadonov scoring off a one-time pass from Jonathan Huberdeau. This goal was huge as Dads picked up his seventh of the season, helping the Cats take a lead into the final frame of regulation.

As the Panthers began the third period, they knew they had to play a tight game to seal the deal with their one-goal lead. To put it simply, it’s easier said than done when it comes to containing such an explosive team like the Capitals. At the start of the third, just forty-four seconds in, Tom Wilson put a puck in over the shoulder of Bobrovsky, tying the game at four.

As the third period came to an end, this game would need overtime to determine a winner. As Aaron Ekblad got an early breakaway to start the extra session, Holtby extended the left pad to rob the shot by Ekblad. On an odd-man rush the other way, the Caps took the win with another goal by Wilson to seal the deal. Washington had won the game by a final score of 5-4.

Despite scoring a good amount of goals on the night, it wasn’t enough to finish off the best team in the league. Considering the Panthers had the lead the majority of the game, it’s disappointing knowing that they could’ve had the extra point in this one.