The Capitals played a solid game against the Florida Panthers last night, and were in it the entire game.
The scoring didn’t start until the second period where that high-to-low play again burned the Capitals on a Nick Cousins goal. The Capitals were able to answer though as a pretty tic tac toe goal from Sonny Milano tied it up on the powerplay late in the second period.
In the third period the Capitals were able to get their first lead of the game on a Tom Wilson power play goal after he drew the penalty. The Capitals were not able to hold the lead though as Florid put on the pressure with under five minutes to go and drew their own penalty. The Panthers converted on the power play and the game went to overtime.
Overtime saw both teams exchange scoring chances, with Alex Ovechkin not only getting overtime play but also a solid scoring chance. An unfortunate missed connection to Sonny Milano would end up going the other way for the game winning goal by Panthers Gustav Forsling.
Three Takeaways:
- The power play: The Capitals had their chances on the power play in this one. They had five power plays and converted on two of them. The first conversion was a great tic tac toe goal from Max Pacioretty to Rasmus Sandin to Sonny Milano. The second conversion was a great net drive play from Wilson.
- Breakaway chances: Dylan Strome and newbie Pierrick Dubé had break away chances in regulation. Both players rang the pipe though as they were not able to convert. Ovechkin also had a chance in overtime with a juicy rebound for Sandin. But again the Capitals couldn’t bury the puck.
- Overall team play: The Capitals had a game plan to keep scoring chances close and for the most part they were able to execute it. Overall scoring chances were 14-17 in favor of the Panthers. The Capitals kept it close and took a lead in the third. They just weren’t able to hold on.
No more injuries, please.
They said it: