Hoffman, Panthers defeat Capitals in overtime

WASHINGTON -- Mike Hoffman scored 1:31 into overtime to give the Florida Panthers a 5-4 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Saturday.

With Florida on a power play that began with four seconds left in the third period, Aleksander Barkov's shot from the point deflected to Keith Yandle, who fed cross-ice to Hoffman for a one-timer.
"Vincent Trocheck] just told me how it happened," Yandle said. "I didn't really know how it got to my stick. I was going down and it came right at my stick and I saw Hoff open. He made a great shot."
***[WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Capitals highlights]*
Roberto Luongo tied Patrick Roy (1,029) for second place on the NHL all-time games list behind Martin Brodeur (1,266) and is one win from tying Ed Belfour (484) for third on the all-time list.
"I think we're just playing to win games, trying to get back in the playoff race," Luongo said. "That's our goal, and that's my goal personally is I want to take part in the playoffs again. [Milestones are] nice when they come and go, but it's not really something I keep tabs on that much."

Yandle, Frank Vatrano, Colton Sceviour and Derick Brassard scored, and Aaron Ekblad had two assists for Florida (23-22-8), which is 6-2-0 in its past eight games after a seven-game losing streak (0-5-2).
Brett Connolly had two goals and an assist, and Lars Eller had a goal and an assist for Washington (30-18-7), which had won three of four. Braden Holtby made 26 saves.
"It was one of those games where we played well enough to win but we also made enough mistakes to lose," Holtby said.
Washington's Evgeny Kuznetsov tied the game at 4-4 when he scored with 3:06 remaining in the third, but Connolly took a slashing penalty in the offensive zone with four seconds left.
"It's an important time of the game," Connolly said. "It's one of those plays, just a tough position. Teams are too good. You can't take that penalty."

Vatrano scored from the slot to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 12:55 of the first period, one second after a Panthers power play ended.
Yandle made it 2-0 at 13:30 when his shot from the point deflected off the stick of Capitals forward T.J. Oshie.
Connolly pulled Washington within 2-1 at 5:02 of the second period when he deflected a shot from Andre Burakovsky.
Sceviour restored the two-goal lead when his deflection of Ekblad's shot from the point made it 3-1 at 9:17.
Eller scored from the left circle at 19:19 to bring the Capitals within 3-2.
Florida made it 4-2 seven seconds into the third period. Holtby made a save on Evgeni Dadonov, but John Carlson's clearing attempt went right to Brassard, who scored from the left circle.
"It's nice to see [Brassard] get rewarded with his first goal as a Panther," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "I liked the lines tonight. I really did."
Connolly made it 4-3 when he scored on a rebound at 6:12.

They said it

"We know what position we're in. Obviously we're scoreboard watching every night, but we're just trying to take it one game at a time. I know it's a bit of a cliché, but the minute we start talking about next week, how many games we have and how many wins we need, that's when we get in trouble." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner

"I liked the fact that we get down by two and we stick with it, we battle and tie it up and get a valuable point. But the consistency through the game is a big factor that needs to continue to improve if we want to continue to get better, and we do." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden

Need to know

Capitals defenseman Christian Djoos played 10:53 in his first game after missing 24 because of an injured left thigh that required surgery. … Holtby played his 400th NHL game, the second Capitals goalie to reach the milestone (Olaf Kolzig, 711). … Capitals forward Dmitrij Jaskin played his 300th NHL game. … Florida will play its next seven games at home. … The Panthers are 5-1 in their past six against the Capitals. … Vatrano has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past eight games.

What's next

Panthers: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday (6 p.m. ET; FS-F, SUN, NHL.TV)
Capitals:Host the Los Angeles Kings on Monday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSWA, FS-W, NHL.TV)