Capitals fall short to Panthers in overtime

The Washington Capitals had a 3-2 lead but couldn’t hang on, falling to the Florida Panthers in overtime. They once again had a goal disallowed this time due to offsides and the victim in that was Sonny Milano. Anthony Mantha had two goals and flirted with a hat trick before getting hit by a puck in the third period that caused him to leave the game.

Mantha got the scoring started at 10:42 with Aliaksei Protas and Darcy Kuemper having the assists. He entered the zone and ripped a shot. The puck bounced into the net.

At 12:49 Oliver Ekman Larsson tied it and at 16:45 Aleksander Barkov gave the Panthers the lead. 2-1 was the score after one with the Caps leading in shots 11-8.

In the second period the Caps were shorthanded at 6:13 but it didn’t stop Connor McMichael from breaking away and backhanding the puck into the net for his third goal of the season to tie the game. Protas and Martin Fehervary had the assists.

The Caps took the lead with another goal from Mantha. It was a two on one rush and McMichael set up the perfect pass for Mantha to finish for his third goal of the season at 15:51. 3-2 was the score after two with the Caps leading in shots 7-6 in the second period.

Things were good right? Nope. Before that Mantha goal was the offsides that took away Milano’s goal. In the third period Mantha left the game with that injury and it came on a shot from Evgeny Kuznetsov.

At 3:33 in the third, the Panthers tied it with a goal from Evan Rodrigues. Shots were even at 10 apiece in the third while the Caps had the edge in shots 28-25 overall. The game would require overtime and there was just one shot but that shot won the game for the Panthers.

The goal came 15 seconds into the three on three from Sam Reinhart. The loss sinks the Caps record to 5-4-2, they were able to get a point out of it for 12 points. But the two points were there and they couldn’t take it.

The Caps head up to the tri state area this weekend with a Friday night game at the New Jersey Devils followed by a Saturday night contest with the New York Islanders.