POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Caps 4, Panthers 3

The House Is Rockin' - The Caps' tradition of playing home games on Thanksgiving Eve and Black Friday stretches back to the early 1980s, but it's difficult to recall a pair of games on those nights in years past that compares to the two Washington played this week, sandwiched around the Thanksgiving holiday.

Perhaps it was because those home dates were dark last year; there were no games around the League until January because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But this week, the Caps were back in action around the holiday and the building was full and rocking. Fans who shuffled into the big barn on F St. saw a pair of memorable contests, with some history in the making in the Black Friday tilt.
After taking down the Montreal Canadiens by a 6-3 score on Wednesday, the Caps hosted the Florida Panthers - owners of the NHL's best record coming into the game - on Friday. The game pitted two of the NHL's top 5-on-5 teams, and the Capitals managed to tilt it in their favor and win it 4-3 by winning the special teams battle.
Alex Ovechkin recorded the 28th hat trick of his NHL career on Friday, scoring the first of his three goals on the power play. Linemate Evgeny Kuznetsov had three assists, including a brilliant secondary helper on Tom Wilson's shorthanded goal early in the second period. Wilson also had three points in the game (goal, two assists).
After the Caps fell down by a goal in the final minute of the first frame, Kuznetsov, John Carlson and Wilson combined to get that goal back while Ovechkin was sitting out a slashing penalty early in the second period.
Kuznestov gained control in neutral ice and he immediately slowed the game down, seeming to rag some seconds off the clock. The Panthers decided this lull in the action would be a good time for a line change, and Kuznetsov quickly exploited the situation, sending Carlson off on a 2-on-1 with Wilson. Carlson's feed was perfect and so was Wilson's shot; the Caps were even and they wouldn't trail again in this one.

"He's a really smart player and offensively he's probably one of the craftiest guys in the league," says Wilson of Kuznetsov. "Shorthanded, I guess there's one less guy out there and a little bit more space. It's one of those things where he's played so much power play that he probably knows that when he has the puck and cuts back, they might want to pressure or cheat. And we talked about it actually a couple games ago; their [defensemen] sometimes kind of sleep a little bit and you can take advantage of it.
"The last guy that I played with that talked like that and looked for that type of thing was Mike Richards, and he had a ton of shorties in his career. And you have to make the right play, because if you don't it's going to be in your net. But sometimes you have opportunities to catch teams when they're when they're not paying attention. He's so good with the puck and when he's cutting back with it, I'm like, 'Hey, maybe I can get open,' but I'm trusting that he's going to make the right play. So far, it's been good. He's been doing a great job."
Wilson's goal got the Caps started, and Ovechkin's hat trick closed out the Cats on Black Friday.
Don't Forget Your Hat -As has typically been the case over the last year or two, Ovechkin's hat trick and the resulting three points had some ramifications to some of the League's various all-time ledgers as The Great Eight continues his climb up several of those charts.
His hat trick was No. 28 of No. 8's career - and his third against Florida - tying him with Marcel Dionne and Bobby Hull for sixth on the NHL's all-time hat trick list.
Ovechkin's first goal was the 273rd power-play goal of his NHL career, moving him to within one of Dave Andreychuk (274) for the top spot on the NHL's all-time list for goals on the man advantage.
Ovechkin's third goal of the game proved to be the game-winner, the 117th game-winning goal of his career. That moves him to within one of Phil Esposito (118) for fourth place on the League's all-time list.
Friday marked Ovechkin's sixth game with at least three points this season, and three of those have come in his last four games. With those three points, Ovechkin moved past Brendan Shanahan (1,354) for sole possession of 26th place on the career points list. Ovechkin now has 1,356 career points (748 goals, 608 assists).
Finally, Ovechkin became the oldest Caps player to record a hat trick on Friday, doing so at 36 years and 70 days of age. The previous mark was held by Peter Bondra, whose final hat trick with the Caps came on Nov. 29, 2003 when he was 35 years and 295 days of age.

I Can Help - Rookie Caps forward Aliaksei Protas registered the first multi-point game of his young NHL career, picking up a pair of assists on Ovechkin's first two goals of the game. The first of those helpers was also the first power-play point of Protas' career.
Like so many of his young Caps teammates, Protas was a fan of Ovechkin's since he was a kid, and on Friday he was able to help the Great Eight continue his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's hallowed career goals mark of 894.
"It's actually unbelievable," says Protas. "I'm just enjoying every second with these guys. I try to work hard and help them as much as I can, and just have fun with these guys. It's unbelievable."
Protas has skated the right side of a line with Ovechkin and Kuznetsov the last couple of nights. Although he is averaging 12:09 in nightly ice time in his 10-game NHL career, Protas has skated upwards of 17 minutes in two of the last three games.
"I get more trust from the coaches every game, so it's actually nice," says Protas. "The second pass from me [on Ovechkin's second goal] from me was unbelievable; it was how you saw it, it just hot my skate. It was unreal. I will take it."
The F Street Shuffle -When the Caps and Panthers met for the first time this season on Nov. 4 in Florida, all four goaltenders saw action in the game. Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky started that contest but yielded to backup Spencer Knight after the first period, leaving because of an injury.
In Friday's game in Washington, Bobrovsky departed right after allowing the Caps' second goal of the game - Ovechkin's first goal - at 2:50 of the second. He was reinstalled at 4:13 - soon after Ovechkin scored on Knight -- then pulled again at 6:49 after Sam Reinhart scored Florida's second goal. Finally, Bobrovsky went back in the crease for the remainder of the game at 17:12 of the second.
After the game, interim Florida coach Andrew Brunette tried to make some sense of it all.
"Originally, it was concussion protocol from apparently the spotter," says Brunette. "He went in and was evaluated by their physician, and he was cleared to go back and play. And then I'm not sure what happened after that. I guess we were told he wasn't evaluated, or he wasn't past the protocol.
"I don't know. It got really gray there for a while. I'm not sure what happened. Our trainers take care of our guys, and we were told he was cleared by their physician, which usually means you're back in. I don't know what got lost in translation. They got a call saying he had to go back [into protocol], saying it wasn't long enough. I don't know all those gray area rules, but we were told he was cleared to go. We wouldn't have put him in unless he was cleared."
Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears were on the road on Friday, facing the Americans in Rochester. It was a tough night for the visitors, who fell into a three-goal hole in the first and couldn't dig themselves out. Hershey ended the night on the wrong end of a 7-3 score.
By the time the Bears got on the board late in the second period, they were looking up at a 4-0 deficit. Kody Clark broke the spell for the Bears, scoring a shorthanded goal with a single assist from Joe Snively at 19:43 of the second period.
The Americans made it 5-1 early in the third, and then the Bears struck for a quick pair of goals to pull within two. Garrett Pilon notched his seventh of the season with help from Snively at 6:42, and Mason Morelli netted his second of the campaign just over a minute later at 7:56, with Matt Moulson and Lucas Johansen assisting. But that was as good as it got for Hershey on this night.
The Amerks scored two more to account for the 7-3 final. Despite doubling up the Amerks in shots on goal by 40-20, the Bears fell to 8-6-2-1 on the season. Pheonix Copley (4-4-1) stopped 13 shots in a losing effort.
Hershey returns to action on Sunday afternoon when it hosts Lehigh Valley at Giant Center.
By The Numbers -Kuznetsov led the Caps with 25:03 in ice time … Ovechkin led the Caps with five shots on net and seven shot attempts … Wilson led Washington with four hits … Nick Jensen, Nic Dowd and Dennis Cholowski each blocked two shots to share the team lead … Dowd won 12 of 20 draws (60 percent).