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Capitals vs. Panthers Recap: Infraction-Filled Night in 5-3 Caps Loss

Dec 29, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Evan Rodrigues (17) and Washington Capitals center Nic Dowd (26) battle for the puck in a face off during the second period at Amerant Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Romance-Imagn Images

Caps-Cats games are rarely dull, and tonight’s game was no exception…although perhaps this one had a bit too much action, and not of the good kind, in a penalty-filled affair that ultimately went the wrong way for the good guys.

Plus: Two goals for Tom Wilson tonight, you absolutely love to see it.

Minus: We try not to pile on the refs too much around these parts, because it’s a fast game and the human element is part of hockey. However…when you watch not one, not two, but three pretty blatant dives by the Panthers and call the Capitals on all three? The fact that the Caps’ captain, clearly frustrated by those dives, threw out his own very obvious dive and drew a call just underlined how oblivious these officials were. (And had Ovechkin been called for embellishment on that play, we would have had serious problems.)

Caps Player of the Game: How about Wilson inching closer to 20 goals at the halfway mark of the season?

Talking Points