The Washington Capitals hit the ice in Sunrise, Florida last night to face off against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. The Caps were coming off a post-holiday break overtime win in New Jersey and were hoping to take some good momentum into their game against the Panthers.
Washington actually got off to a solid start, getting on the board first courtesy of Tom Wilson less than four minutes into the game. They took a 2-2 tie into the third frame, which quickly became a 3-3 tie after goals from Dylan Strome and Brad Marchand. It felt like whoever scored next in this back-and-forth affair would take home the two points, and unfortunately for Washington, it was Florida with a tally from Aaron Ekblad. Let’s take a closer look at how it unfolded…
The Caps were in their own zone with a lot of tired skaters with about seven minutes left in the game. Aliaksei Protas tried to make a defensive play and swipe the puck out of the zone on the backcheck, but he couldn’t quite reach it. The Panthers’ defensemen made a swap behind the play, so Ekblad and Gustav Forsling joined their team’s offensive efforts on fresh legs. They were able to capitalize on Washington’s defensive breakdown with a slick pass from Sam Reinhart to a wide open Ekblad, who picked the perfect spot for his shot past Logan Thompson.
Hopefully the Capitals can shake this loss off quickly and get right before their final game of 2026 tomorrow, a matinee meeting with the Rangers at Capital One Arena.