Brady Tkachuk scored twice in the first period, and Matthew Tkachuk had three assists for the Panthers (9-6-2), who opened a three-game road trip that continues at the Boston Bruins on Sunday. Akira Schmid made 27 saves.
Jack St. Ivany scored his first NHL goal at 2:21 of the first to give Washington a 1-0 lead. The 27-year-old defenseman intercepted Schmid’s clearing attempt along the left wall, and his shot bounced and went in over Schmid’s left shoulder.
The goal came in St. Ivany’s 62nd NHL game.
Brady Tkachuk tied it 1-1 at 3:13. After intercepting the puck in the offensive zone, Tkachuk drove along the goal line, passed in front to Matthew Tkachuk and then knocked in the rebound at the right post.
He then put Florida ahead 2-1 at 10:00 on a power play after Capitals forward Tom Wilson received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for boarding Sandis Vilmanis. Matthew Tkachuk’s centering pass deflected to Brady at the right post, and he lifted the puck in over Thompson’s left pad.
Vilmanis left the game at 8:55 and did not return.
Tuch tied it 2-2 at 4:39 of the second period. He stole the puck from Florida center Sam Bennett at center ice, skated in and scored with a snap shot from the right face-off circle.
Protas gave Washington a 3-2 lead at 14:55, taking a pass across the slot from Dubois and scoring from the low slot past a diving Schmid.
Dubois made it 4-2 at 4:42 of the third period. After deflecting Dmitry Kulikov’s pass, Dubois took a feed from Protas, reached around Schmid and slid the puck over the goal line.
Bennett cut it to 4-3 at 19:13 when he redirected a pass from Matthew Tkachuk after Schmid was pulled for an extra attacker.
