Ovechkin scores No. 740 in Capitals OT loss to Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla.-- Alex Ovechkin scored NHL goal No. 740 but could not prevent the Florida Panthers from extending their season-opening point streak to 10 games with a 5-4 overtime win against the Washington Capitals at FLA Live Arena on Thursday.

Eetu Luostarinen scored at 1:55 of overtime after the Panthers squandered a 4-1 lead. His centering pass went off the stick of Capitals forward Tom Wilson.
"He had a heck of a game and we really can trust him out there and he can make plays," Panthers coach Andrew Brunette said of Luostarinen. "He's a very underrated player for us."

Florida (9-0-1) won its first eight games before a 3-2 shootout loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday. Aleksander Barkov's second goal was No. 188 of his NHL career to tie Olli Jokinen for most in Panthers history.
Ovechkin scored his 10th goal of the season and had two assists for Washington (5-1-4); he is one goal from tying Brett Hull for fourth in NHL history. Connor McMichael's first NHL goal tied it 4-4 at 6:56 of the third period.
"We have to take a point any way we can, but in the first period we didn't play our game," Ovechkin said. "After that we were pretty good. We knew when we scored the third goal we'd come back. We had lots of chances."
Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky left the game after the first period because of an upper-body injury; he made 13 saves. Spencer Knight made 25 saves facing 29 shots in the final two periods and overtime.
Ilya Samsonov was announced as the Capitals starting goalie but missed the first 1:45, with coach Peter Laviolette saying, "I'm better off just saying he had an issue." Samsonov then left the game at 7:16 of the second period after Brandon Montour gave Florida a 3-1 lead. Samsonov made 15 saves. Vitek Vanecek made 13 saves.
Barkov gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 3:07 of the first period with a backhand after Samsonov saved his shot from the point. Aaron Ekblad made it 2-0 at 11:04 with a slap shot from the point.
Daniel Sprong made it 2-1 at 43 seconds of the second period with a breakaway goal on the first shot Knight faced.
"I felt terrible on the way he had to go in and kind of the egg we laid for him there for his first shot," Brunette said of the 20-year-old. "For a young goaltender to rebound shows his composure. I thought he was solid the rest of the way."
Barkov gave Florida a 4-1 lead at 15:32 of the second period with a power-play goal.

Ovechkin made it 4-2 at 18:11 with a wrist shot, and Tom Wilson tipped John Carlson's shot at 19:43 to make it 4-3.
"The guys played hard, they never stopped playing," Laviolette said. "We found ourselves in a game where I thought we could have had the lead at times. We got to overtime and never really got possession of the puck. It's frustrating to not get the second point."
The Panthers host the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. Carolina has won nine straight games to start its season.
"I don't even think ... I mean, that was an exhausting game," Brunette said. "So I'm just [going to] enjoy this one. I know they're a good team, and we'll worry about that tomorrow morning."
NOTES: Brunette said Bobrovsky is day to day and would be reevaluated in the morning. ... Capitals forward Anthony Mantha left the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury ... Knight became the 150th NHL goalie against whom Ovechkin has scored. ... Ovechkin is the first player to score 10 goals this season, the first player to do that in three seasons (2013-14, 2017-18). The 36-year-old is the third player that age to be the first to 10 (Mike Gartner, 1996-97 Phoenix Coyotes; Maurice Richard, 1957-58 Montreal Canadiens). ... McMichael played his ninth NHL game. He is the fourth Capitals rookie to score his first NHL goal this season (Hendrix Lapierre, Martin Fehervary, Brett Leason). ... Panthers defenseman Chase Priskie, from Pembroke Pines, Florida, made his NHL debut. He played 10:37 and had a shot on goal. ... Panthers forward Maxim Mamin played 11:08 with two shots on goal in his first NHL game since Nov. 17, 2018 after playing three seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League. ... Barkov has played 539 games in nine seasons with for Florida; Jokinen played 567 in seven seasons.