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The Capitals came into Florida off a solid shutout win over the Colorado Avalanche and continued their solid game play, beating their hosts 4 to 2.
First up Thursday night’s Plus/Minus:
- Plus: The Capitals bounced back after a weak second period to take control of the contest, score the go ahead goal, and register two points in regulation. A great sign to see early in the season against a young and competitive Panthers squad.
- Minus: Jaromir Jagr tallied his 750th career goal against us. Oof.
Eight more notes on the game.
- Justin Williams tucked home his first goal of the year from atop Roberto Luongo‘s crease less than nine minutes into the contest. Williams received a strong pass from Nate Schmidt and chipped the puck up and in off the nearside post for the early lead.
- 116 seconds later Evgeny Kuznetsov got his first of the year by tipping a floater from Matt Niskanen past Luongo’s glove hand to extend Washington’s early lead to two.
- But before the period was over Michael Matheson beat Braden Holtby with an untouched floater of his own from the right half wall. It was certainly one that Holtby would like to have back.
- And after that Jagr tallied his milestone marker, one touching an Aleksander Barkov feed up and over Holtby’s left shoulder to knot the game at two.
- The Capitals were thoroughly outshot in the middle frame, the Panthers besting them by ten, 14 to 4. However, it’d be Washington winning the battle when it mattered, outshooting the Panthers 13 to 6 over the final twenty minutes.
- And it was Alex Ovechkin with the game winner eight minutes into the final frame, ushering home a Niskanen point shot to put Washington ahead 3 to 2.
- A scary moment occurred a few minutes later when Daniel Winnik went down and took a Reilly Smith slapshot off the back of his helmet during penalty killing duties. The rugged Washington winger left the game and did not return.
- With eighty seconds left in the game Marcus Johansson cut into the slot with the puck and whipped a wrist shot past Luongo to close the contest 4 to 2 in Washington’s favor.
Game highlights: