The Washington Capitals bounced back in a big way with a 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers in the first leg of the Mentors' Trip. The win improved the Caps record to 14-6-1 with 29 points, good for third place in the Metropolitan Division just two back of the Carolina Hurricanes and three back of the New Jersey Devils.
The Panthers struck first seven minutes into the game on a wrist shot from Niko Mikkola. Then Lars Eller was called for cross checking against Aleksander Barkov.
At 17:49 of the first period Eller would strike for his fifth goal of the season and his first in a Capitals uniform since 2022. The goal was assisted by Jakob Chychrun and Hendrix Lapierre, each with their fourth helpers of the year.
1-1 would be the score after both the first and second period. Shots were 9-4 in favor of the Caps in the opening 20 while the Panthers led in shots 11-8 in the second period. There were some fireworks in the second.
First Matt Roy went to he box for cross checking. Matthew Tkachuk and Martin Fehervary each went to the box for roughing just over five minutes later. Pierre-Luc Dubois got whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct about midway through the second. Then the Panthers gave the Caps two power plays when Mackie Samoskevich was called for holding against Chychrun then Uvis Balinskis was called for tripping Tom Wilson. Unfortunatley, the Caps came up empty in both of those chances.
In the third period at 1:18 in the Caps took the lead for good on a power play goal from Jakob Chychrun in his home state for his sixth of the season. Dylan Strome would tack on his 23rd assist while Tom Wilson notched his ninth.
Eller and Ivan Miroshnichenko would put it away with empty net goals at 18:32 and 19:37, respectively. Eller's goal was his sixth on the year and was assisted by PLD for his 12th and Chychrun for his fifth. Matt Roy added his fourth apple on the Miroshnichenko goal which was the young Russian's first on the season.
Caps led in shots 14-6 in the third period and 31-21 overall to give Logan Thompson the win to improve his record to 9-1-1 with a .952 save percentage on the night. He was named second star of the night while Chychrun took home number one.
Next up for the Caps is a Wednesday night matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena at 7 p.m. on TNT and MAX.