Panthers score 6, hand Capitals 3rd straight loss

WASHINGTON -- Anton Lundell had a goal and two assists in the Florida Panthers' 6-3 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Thursday.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves, and Marc Staal scored his first goal of the season for the Panthers (28-24-6), who have won five of their past seven games and rebounded from a 6-2 loss at the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
"You want to get back on your horse, and we were cooking right out of the gate," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "Got off to a lead, which was good for us in a lot of ways. Mentally, you get to put the last game behind you and focus on tonight."

Staal had not scored since March 15, 2022, against the Edmonton Oilers while with the Detroit Red Wings.
"It felt good," Staal said. "I'm not that stressed about it, I don't really think about it, but the boys were pretty pumped up for me, so it was nice to get. Nice to get one and get the momentum going for us."
Erik Gustafsson had three assists, and Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves for the Capitals (28-23-6), who lost their third straight game in regulation for the first time this season. They will play the Carolina Hurricanes outdoors in the 2023 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN360, TVAS2).
"I think we know what it takes to be successful. I think we just haven't played that way in a couple games here," Washington forward Dylan Strome said. "So, [we've got to] get back to that and come together as a team and really figure out a way to get these points."

Alex Ovechkin, who is away from the team to be with his family following the death of his father Wednesday, missed his second game.
Gustav Forsling gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead when he scored on a wrist shot from the top of the left face-off circle at 9:10 of the first period.
Staal scored on a slap shot from the point at 1:32 of the second period to make it 2-0.
Moments after Bobrovsky made a point-blank save on Lars Eller, Colin White got behind the Washington defense, received a pass from Lundell on the rush and lifted a backhand past Kuemper to make it 3-0 at 7:20.
"It was a great play by 'Lundy,'" White said. "He found me there, end of a shift. I was lucky enough to beat [Kuemper] on the far side."

Strome pulled the Capitals within 3-1 when he deflected T.J. Oshie's point shot past Bobrovsky at 15:51, but Aleksander Barkov gave Florida a 4-1 lead at 17:03, keeping the puck on a 2-on-1 rush and scoring with a no-look shot through the five-hole.
"We slowed it down and watched it a whole bunch of times. His head never checks his shoulder," Maurice said. "But he's done that too many times to ever call it lucky. It was incredible. Huge goal for us. To go in with a three-goal cushion instead of two is important."
The Panthers had 20 shots on goal in the second period.
"The second period, for me, could've been better and we've got to do more. It's not good enough. We've got to have better execution," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "There's passes out there that need to be made and there's physicality that can be found somewhere and the puck battles and the things that we can do better, we have to do them better."

Nicklas Backstrom's shot deflected off Staal's stick and between Bobrovsky's pads for a power-play goal that pulled Washington within 4-2 at 13:04 of the third period.
Evgeny Kuznetsov knocked in a loose puck on a power play to cut it to 4-3 at 17:28, but Lundell (18:39) and Sam Reinhart (19:45) each scored into an empty net for the 6-3 final.
"We just got to get together as a team and chip in for each other and make sure we keep grinding," Backstrom said. "You've got to learn from every loss, so hopefully we're going to learn from this and move on."
NOTES: Capitals forward Marcus Johansson left the game in the third period after a collision with Panthers defenseman Radko Gudas. Laviolette said after the game that Johansson was still being evaluated. … Barkov has 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in his past 16 games. … Washington is 23-23-4 in 50 regular-season games without Ovechkin since his NHL debut in 2005-06. … Gustafsson has 26 assists, second to Kuznetsov (36) on the Capitals.