Caps Lose Late Lead and Game, 3-2 to Cats

Thursday's game between the Caps and Panthers in South Florida took a backseat to a stirring and emotional pregame tribute to the 17 victims of the USA's most recent mass shooting, one that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. last week.

Parkland is home to several Panthers, including goaltender Roberto Luongo, who spoke movingly and eloquently in a somber pregame ceremony, remembering the 17 students and teachers whose lives were taken, offering support to their families, and to the outspoken survivors of the senseless tragedy and vowing that, "It's time for us as a community to take action. It's enough. Enough is enough. We've got to take action."

Soon after, a clearly emotional Luongo pulled his mask down and somehow went to work. At night's end, he and his teammates found themselves on the right side of a 3-2 victory over the Capitals, who owned a 2-1 lead with less than four minutes remaining.

Vincent Trocheck scored a power-play goal - Florida's 13th power-play goal in its last 11 games and Trocheck's fourth over the same span -with 18.7 seconds left in the third period to break a 2-2 tie and give the Panthers a win in the opening game of Florida's six-game homestand.

One of the hallmarks of the Barry Trotz-coached Capitals these last few seasons has been the team's ability to lock down late leads. But Thursday's loss marks the second time in Washington's last five games that the Caps were not able to safely usher a late lead into the win column.

At least in the first of those instances - on Feb. 13 against the Jets in Winnipeg - Washington was able to scrape a point out of the affair. They bring no points home from their one-game journey to South Florida.

Things began to unravel for the Caps when they gave a bit too much time and space to the wrong guy at the wrong time of the game.

Up by a goal as the clock ticked down below four minutes remaining, Aleksander Barkov took a short pass from linemate Evgeny Dadonov in neutral ice. Barkov then entered the Washington zone with a trio of white sweaters around him. But Barkov shook his way free of all of them, and he carried down to the bottom of the left circle as linemate Nick Bjugstad drove to the net. From just above the goal line, Barkov fed Bjugstad for a back door strike, tying the game at 2-2 with 3:42 remaining.

Three minutes later, Caps center Lars Eller was boxed for interference high in the attack zone, giving Florida's power play - a red-hot outfit as of late - an opportunity to go to work.

Florida won the offensive-zone draw, got into position and began to set up for a good look. From the high slot, Jonathan Huberdeau put a shot toward the cage, and Vincent Trocheck redirected it through traffic and into the net with 18.7 seconds left, giving Florida the lead for the first time since late in the first frame.

"We had a couple of chances before [the Panthers] got it tied up that we missed on," rues Trotz, "We had some Grade A's and we didn't finish there. And then we get beat one-on-one, they get a puck to the net, it ends up in the net, and then we take an unnecessary penalty."

For the 10th straight start, Caps goaltender Braden Holtby was nicked for a goal in the game's first frame.

The Panthers' Maxim Mamin notched his first NHL goal to stake his team to a 1-0 lead at 4:50 of the first period. Florida worked the puck low to high, and Ian McCoshen put a shot on net from center point. Colton Sceviour got a piece of the shot and Holtby still made the save, but Mamin was parked at the right post. He had an easy tap-in for his first goal in the show.

Washington pulled even on a dominant offensive zone shift late in the first period. Along with blueliners Brooks Orpik and Michal Kempny, Eller and linemates Brett Connolly and Andre Burakovsky moved the puck around the perimeter of the Florida zone for the better part of a minute as a group of weary Panthers chased them to and fro.

Orpik left a pass for Burakovsky up near the right point, and Burakovsky carried across the top of the Florida zone, letting go of a wrist shot with some air beneath it from the high slot. Eller deflected the shot, tipping it past Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo to tie the game at 1-1 with just 65 seconds left in the first period.

Panthers forwards Barkov and Dadonov had both been on the ice for more than two minutes by the time Eller made the red light go on.

Washington opened the second period on the penalty kill, and Holtby made a stellar stop on Trocheck in the early seconds of the middle period, denying a back door attempt off a two-on-one rush opportunity.

Midway through the middle period, the Caps took the lead with Alex Ovechkin playing a key role in the manufacture of the go-ahead tally. First, the Caps' captain drew an interference call on Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad, the Cats' second most frequently deployed penalty-killing blueliner.

Seconds later, Ovechkin flagged down a Florida clearing attempt and expertly swatted the puck toward the slot for Burakovsky, who made no mistake, ripping a shot past Luongo to lift the Caps into a 2-1 lead at 9:56 of the second, a lead the Caps weren't quite able to usher to the final horn.

Holtby was excellent in a losing cause on Thursday, and he deserved a better fate. Instead, he is now saddled with a five-game losing streak (0-3-2) for the first time in his NHL career.

After the game, Holtby spoke reverently of Luongo's pregame words.

"Obviously he is a very good speaker," says Holtby of his fellow netminder. "There is a reason why he was a captain in Vancouver, a good ambassador of the game and very honest - one of the good guys in the game.

"Hopefully the message resonates. It was very well spoken and very impressive, especially as a goaltender to go in there and play. Our group especially supports him 100 percent behind that message as well, and I think the whole league does. It's a proud moment for us as NHL players to stand behind him in that."