The Washington Capitals defeated the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers by a final of 6-3. Alex Ovechkin did not score a goal but had a pair of assists and now the Caps have a big game with the Winnipeg Jets on the horizon on Tuesday night.
A nightmare scenario for both goalies in the first 40 minutes
Vitek Vanecek went up against his former club as Logan Thompson got the nod in net for the Capitals. Tom Wilson would set up Connor McMichael for the game opening goal at 3:15. It was Wilson's 28th assist on the season and McMichael's 25th goal.
Sam Bennett tied the game at 6:35. John Carlson, after having a goal taken away from him in the third period in the win over the Philadelphia Flyers the other night, got a tally that counted at 12:24 for his fifth of the season. McMichael had his 29th assist while Pierre-Luc Dubois added his 43rd.
Seth Jones tied it at 13:56. Anthony Beauvillier would then answer to put the Caps back ahead for his 15th goal of the season. That came at 14:56. Rasmus Sandin added his 23rd assist while Trevor van Riemsdyk had his 18th.
Jonah Gadjovich tied it for the Panthers at 15:27 and 3-3 would be the score after the opening period. The Caps outshot the Panthers 15-9. In the second period the Caps scored three unaswered goals despite getting outshot 13-9.
Wilson put the Caps ahead for good seven seconds into the middle frame for his 31st goal of the year. Matt Roy had his 21st assist on the season while Martin Fehervary picked up his 17th.
At the 59 second mark, Dylan Strome got in on the fun with his 23rd goal of the season. Ovi had his 23rd assist on the year while Aliaksei Protas picked up his 34th assist.
Andrew Mangiapane made it 6-3 with his 13h goal of the season at 5:57. Ovechkin had the primary assist once again for his 24th while Fehervary had the secondary for his 18th.
Caps were outshot 14-7 in the third and 36-31 overall. Despite this, Logan Thompson made 33 saves to pick up the win in net.
The Caps will head to Winnipeg to take on the Jets on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. eastern in a clash of the top two teams in the NHL. You can cach the game on Monumental Sports Network as well as listen to the game on 106.7 The Fan and Caps Radio 24/7.