After an uplifting win over the Hurricanes in Raleigh two nights ago, the Caps had their collective minds set on a strong follow-up performance on Thursday in Florida, where a win would give them a split of a rugged four-game road trip. Although they authored another strong start against another quality opponent, the Capitals couldn’t sustain it, falling 6-3 to the Cats at Amarant Bank Arena.
Sam Reinhart scored twice and added an assist to pace the Panthers in what was otherwise a milestone night for the home team. Brad Marchand had a pair of helpers to reach the 1,000 point plateau for his career, Evan Rodrigues and Seth Jones each scored their 100th career goal in the League, and netminder Daniil Tarasov notched his first victory as a member of the Panthers with a 37-save performance as Florida won consecutive games for the first time in over a month.
Thursday’s loss sends the Caps home with a 1-3-0 mark for their eight-day road journey, and Washington has now gone three weeks without stacking wins together. It was another game in which the Caps spent a fair amount of time in the offensive zone and did a lot of good things, but they were undone by a couple of power-play goals against.
“I was honestly happy with the first two [periods],” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “You're trailing in that game, so it's not ideal to be trailing after the way that we played in the first two periods. I thought we did a lot of really good things, created a ton of good looks, the [offensive] zone time was there, limiting – for the most part – what we gave up.”
For the third time in as many games, Brandon Duhaime started the scoring for the Caps, and in the game. His linemates set him up for the opening salvo on Saturday night in Tampa and Tuesday night in Carolina, but on Thursday in Florida – near where he grew up – Duhaime got the Caps on the board with a deft deflection of Rasmus Sandin’s right point shot at 8:25 of the first period. The solo helper was the 100th assist of Sandin’s NHL career.
Unfortunately for the Capitals, the Panthers responded with the tying tally less than half a minute later. After Logan Thompson stopped Niko Mikkola’s bad angle shot from the left half wall, Rodrigues fired the rebound home from the slot to make it a 1-1 contest at 8:53, just 28 seconds after the Duhaime goal.
The Caps fired 17 first-period shots on Tarasov, the most they’ve managed in the first frame this season, and the most the Panthers have yielded in a period this season.
Early in the second, the Panthers took a lead they would not relinquish when Cole Schwindt deflected a Gustav Forsling center point floater past Thompson to make it 2-1 at 3:05.
When the Caps were whistled for a bench minor for too many men in the back half of the second, Reinhart pounced on a loose puck in front and shelved it to make it a 3-1 game. Carbery wasn’t happy with the call, adding to the Caps’ ongoing frustrations.
“The too many men. I don't like the call at all,” Carbery laments. “I feel like that happens 10 times a game on both sides of the puck, so don't feel like there's an advantage gained.
“So didn't like the call, but we’ve got to find a way to kill that.”
Washington gamely battled back when Justin Sourdif bit the hand that once fed him, redirecting a Jakob Chychrun feed past Tarasov in the first minute of the third. But Reinhart struck from the slot four minutes later, restoring the home team’s two-goal cushion. Sourdif's strong game in the middle of a line with Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson was a bright spot for Washington in this one.
"Sourdif, that's the best game I've seen him play," says Carbery. "He was excellent tonight, all around the puck. Glad to see him get rewarded."
A double-minor to Nic Dowd gave Florida an opportunity to expand its lead, and it did so in the back half of the double minor when Jones scored his milestone marker at 9:50, making it a 5-2 contest.
Sandin scored his second goal of the trip to bring the Caps a goal closer, but when Washington couldn’t pull a goal closer with a late power play, its fate was sealed. Eetu Luostarinen scored into an empty net, and Marchand’s point total reached quadruple digits in the process, accounting for the 6-3 final.
“A couple momentum killers again, I think," says Wilson of the loss. “It’s just a little frustrating. It just seems like a couple of those bounces aren’t going our way at big points of the game, and we can’t fight our way back into it.
“That being said, we’ve got to continue to try to tilt the ice and earn those bounces. That’s the game of hockey, a lot of mistakes. You’ve just got to try and push your way down to their end and try and capitalize. We got a lot of pucks to the net, but a bit of a frustrating one, I guess.”
The Caps return to Washington for some home cooking next. Starting with Saturday’s home game against New Jersey, they will play seven of their next eight games at Capital One Arena.
