Washington Capitals come back but fall in overtime to Panthers
The Washington Capitals lost but there was a couple of silver linings from a game that featured goalie changes back and fourth on both sides. Alex Ovechkin scored his 10th goal of the season and 740th of his career. Connor McMichael also scored his first NHL goal. But prior to those things, this game was ugly.
Ilya Samsonov was slated to start the game but then he went down the tunnel prior to the puck dropping. Vitek Vanecek then got the start and played 1:45 before Samsonov came back in. The Panthers struck first with a goal from Aleksander Barkov at 3:07 and Aaron Ekblad at 11:04. The Panthers led 2-0 after the first period and outshot the Caps 14-13.
Sergei Bobrovsky got the start in goal for the Panthers but only played the first period. Bobvrovsky was diagnosed with an upper body injury and was questionable to return. Spencer Knight came in to replace him in the second period and he was greeted by a Daniel Sprong breakaway goal set up by a nice pass from Anthony Mantha 43 seconds in.
Brandon Montour answered for the Cats at 7:16 and Barkov added his second of the night at 15:32 to go up 4-1. That goal came on the power play at 15:32. At 18:11 Lars Eller fed Ovechkin and he ripped one in for his 10th goal of the season. He is one away from tying Brett Hull for number four in scoring all time.
At 19:43 the Caps cut the deficit to one. Ovechkin found John Carlson. Carlson shot it and Tom Wilson deflected it in for his first goal of the season. 4-3 was the score after two with the Caps leading in shots 19-12.
At 6:56 in the third period, Connor McMichael finally scored his first NHL goal. It was assisted by Ovechkin and Brett Leason and it came when McMichael pounced on a loose puck in front of the net. It would be enough to force overtime and get the Caps a point from the Florida road trip. The Caps outshot the Panthers 10-5 in the third.
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In overtime the Caps got lost and the Panthers got two shots off. The second one won the game and it came from Eetu Luostarinen. The Caps also lost Mantha with an upper body injury. The team hopes to get Nicklas Backstrom back for Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Caps also need to figure out how to win games at three on three.