Washington Capitals Almost Complete Comeback Against Panthers

It was dull, boring, a dud. Then the final five minutes happened. The Washington Capitals almost pulled it off.

Down 4-0, the Washington Capitals scored three unanswered goals in the third period to pull within one. That was the closest they’d get. The Florida Panthers hung on for  a 5-3 win, delaying Washington’s chance at clinching the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals came into this game needing a win in any fashion as well as a regulation loss by the second-place New York Islanders which they got in a 2-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Negative side is they missed a chance to win the division but positive side is the Islanders didn’t gain ground either.

The Capitals (47-25-8, 102 points) maintain a three-point lead over the Islanders. The third-place Penguins trail the Capitals by five points so the Metro Division is going to come down to the Capitals and Islanders. What makes this storyline compelling is that current Islanders head coach Barry Trotz coached the Capitals to the Stanley Cup last season. They meet Saturday night in the final game of the regular season.

Back to Sunrise, Florida. Much like their loss against the Minnesota Wild that came two nights after an emotional game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Capitals came out of the gates flat after an emotional win in Tampa two nights prior. The Panthers took a 1-0 lead at 13:48 with a goal from Frank Vatrano. They outshot the Capitals 14-5 in the first 20 minutes. They added to the damage in the second period.

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The middle stanza featured three more goals from the Panthers. They went up 2-0 at 3:34 with a goal from Jonathan Huberdeau. The Capitals got a power play chance to get back in the game after Vatrano was called for holding the stick on Matt Niskanen. The man advantage ironically became a man disadvantage as Vincent Trocheck scored shorthanded to make it 3-0 at 12:01. Former Capital Troy Brouwer gave the Panthers a 4-0 lead at 17:57 which was the lead they’d take into the game’s final 20 minutes.

The Capitals had a better second period shooting-wise, outshooting the Panthers 14-10, but they had a better third period scoring-wise. Evgeny Kuznetsov put the Capitals on the board at 10:55 for his 21st goal of the season. Kuznetsov deflected in a shot from John Carlson.

At 16:25 the deficit was cut in half. Nicklas Backstrom ripped a shot up the middle off a backhand pass from T.J. Oshie for his 22nd goal of the season.

The Capitals made it a 4-3 game at 17:39 with goal from Jakub Vrana. The goal came with Vrana putting the puck in from the front of the net after Oshie rebounded a shot from Niskanen and dished the puck to him. It was his 24th goal of the season.

That was the closest the Capitals would get. The game was put away by an empty net goal from Trocheck for his second goal of the game. Pheonix Copley stopped 29-of-33 shots in the loss for a .879 save percentage. The Capitals outshot the Panthers 11-10 in the third period. The Panthers outshot the Capitals overall 34-30.

The Capitals return home for two more games to close out the regular season. First up is a Thursday night matchup with the Montreal Canadiens.