Falling Flat in Florida: Capitals Fall 4-2 to Panthers in Sixth Straight Loss; Alex Ovechkin, Anthony Mantha Score


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The Washington Capitals fell to the Florida Panthers by a score of 4-2 on the first stop on their annual Mentors’ Trip road swing. Alex Ovechkin scored for the third straight game and Darcy Kuemper made 37 stops in the loss.

LINEUPS 

The Capitals started Darcy Kuemper (25 GP, 11-11-2, 3.19 GAA, .892 Save %, 1 SO) while the Cats countered with Sergei Bobrovsky (36 GP, 23-10-2, 2.51 GAA, .910 Save %, 2 SO)

CAPITALS

Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Tom Wilson
Max Pacioretty-Connor McMichael-TJ Oshie
Aliaksei Protas-Mike Sgarbossa-Anthony Mantha
Beck Malenstyn-Nic Dowd-Matthew Phillips

Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin-Ethan Bear
Joel Edmundson-Nick Jensen

Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Nicolas Aube-Kubel (healthy scratch), Alex Alexeyev (healthy scratch); Trevor van Riemsdyk (out with illness)

PANTHERS

Evan Rodrigues-Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Nick Cousins
Jonah Gadjovich-Kevin Stenlund-Ryan Lomberg

Gustav Forsling-Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola-Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson-Dmitry Kulikov

Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz

1ST PERIOD

The Capitals were handed their first power play of the night at 03:14 on a boarding call to Jonah Gadjovich, followed by a Goaltender Interference call against Beck Malenstyn at 06:22. Matthew Tkachuk and Martin Fehervary were called for dual slashing 1:01 later. Malenstyn failed to convert on a penalty shot awarded shortly after he exited the penalty box.

The Capitals got on the board first on a power play goal from Alex Ovechkin, marking his third straight game with a tally; Rasmus Sandin and Connor McMichael picked up assists on the goal. The goal gives the Caps’ captain 833 career goals and 11 on the season.

The two clubs headed into the first intermission with 13 Shots on Goal (SOG) apiece and the Caps holding the advantage in power play conversions.

2ND PERIOD

Matthew Tkachuk notched his 17th goal of the 2023-24 season just minutes into the second frame, knotting the score at 1-1 at 4:29; Gustav Forsling recorded the assist on the play.

Evan Rodrigues appeared to have scored his ninth of the season just over seven minutes into the period, however a Coach’s Challenge by Spencer Carbery for Offsides overturned the goal.

Anthony Mantha put the Capitals ahead with his 16th goal of the season at 14:03 on assists from recent recall Mike Sgarbossa and Aliaksei Protas, whose efforts in the defensive zone enabled the play to materialize.

The Caps’ lead would be relatively short-lived as Sam Reinhart would once again put the two clubs even with his 38th goal of the season on the power play at 17:32 on assists from Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe.

The two teams entered the second and final intermission with Florida holding a 25-14 SOG advantage and having outshot Washington by a 12-4 margin the second.

3RD PERIOD

Scoring was scarce throughout the third, with tempers flaring between both teams in the interim. With just over five and a half minutes left in regulation, Ryan Lomberg broke the deadlock on an assist from Dmitry Kulikov.

A late power play for Washington saw the Caps fail to beat Bobrovsky, and the Panthers would add an empty-net goal from Eetu Luostarinen to seal the victory.

The Caps finished the game having been outshot by the Cats 41-22 and now sit at 22-20-7 having lost six straight contests.

Ice Shavings
– NHL Box Score
– Tonight’s game marked the 200th career NHL game for defenseman Rasmus Sandin

About Michael Fleetwood

Michael Fleetwood was born into a family of diehard Capitals fans and has been watching games as long as he can remember. He was born the year the Capitals went to their first Stanley Cup Final, and is a diehard Caps fan, the owner of the very FIRST Joe Beninati jersey and since then, has met Joe himself.

Michael joined the NoVa Caps team in 2015, and is most proud of the growth of the NoVa Caps community in that time. An avid photographer, Michael resides in VA.





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