5 TAKEAWAYS: Cats even up series with Caps on Verhaeghe's OT winner

WASHINGTON, D.C. -The Panthers are heading home all square.
After Sam Reinhart tied things up with just over two minutes left in regulation, Carter Verhaeghe scored his second goal of the game at 4:57 of overtime to lift the Panthers to a 3-2 win over the Capitals in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Capital One Arena on Monday.
With Game 5 slated for Wednesday at FLA Live Arena, the best-of-7 series is tied 2-2.

"It was great," Verhaeghe said with a smile. "I'm just happy we won the game and that we can go back home in front of our home fans and compete again with the series tied. It's a best-of-3 now, and we have the home-ice advantage again. That's the thing I'm happy about the most."
Finding the back of the net on the power play for the fourth straight game, the Capitals opened the scoring when John Carlson's heavy one-timer from the point caught a piece of T.J. Oshie's leg before flying past Sergei Bobrovsky and into the net to make it 1-0 at 7:15 of the first period.
Pulling the Panthers even heading into the first intermission, Verhaeghe settled down a dribbling puck in transition on a 2-on-1 break and sent it right past Ilya Samsonov to make it 1-1 at 14:08.

"I thought we really executed with the puck," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said. "We had the puck and we didn't just give it away. I think we're building here a little bit."
Although there were no goals to speak of in the second period, there was no shortage of stress.
With special teams taking center stage, both teams earned three power plays during the middle frame. While neither man advantage broke through, the Panthers had a more difficult challenge as a questionable tripping call on Bobrovsky led to a decent 5-on-3 advantage for the Capitals.
Finally breaking the deadlock, Evgeny Kuznetsov put Washington up 2-1 at 9:31 of the third period moments after Sam Bennett was hit up high by Oshie. Bennett was left bloodied by the play, which was a stunning no-call given the nature of the collision and the state of the series.
"Obviously something they'll probably take a look at," Brunette said. "I didn't like the hit."
Not deterred with time winding down, the Panthers found the game-tying goal when, after they pulled Bobrovsky for the 6-on-4 advantage, Reinhart deftly knocked down a bouncing puck and fired it past Samsonov to make it 2-2 with 2:04 left in regulation to get the game into overtime.
Becoming just the fourth player in franchise history to score a game-winning goal in overtime in the playoffs, Verhaeghe, after his initial attempt was saved by the right pad Samsonov, jumped on his own rebound and fired it into the back of the cage to lock in the 3-2 win for the Panthers.
"We've kind of shown that all year, that resilience," Brunette said. "We stuck to our game, which we've done all year. I think it got away from us a little bit the other day, and today I thought we kind of got into our flow a little bit. Things were looking a little shaky at the end, but we showed a lot of poise. The resilience that we've shown all season long came through there at the end."
Here are five takeaways from Monday's win…

1. TWO FOR SWAGU

In a hilarious turn of events, local media didn't vote for Verhaeghe as a star of the game.
That being said, I'm sure he's fine with two goals for himself and two points for the Cats.
After finding the back of the net in the first period to make it 1-1, the man they call "Swaggy" struck again in overtime to help the Panthers even up their playoff series with a 3-2 victory.

"Swaggy means so much to our team," Brunette said. "He's so tenacious on pucks and he doesn't always get rewarded for how many chances he creates. Even tonight you thought, 'Come on Swagu, just one time!' He got two unbelievable goals for us. Really happy for him."
After racking up a career-high 55 points (24 goals, 31 assists) in 78 games during the regular season, Verhaeghe leads the Panthers in goals (3) and points (5) through four playoff games.
"I think it was our best game of the series," Verhaeghe said. "I think it's something to build on."

2. REINO TIES IT

Reinhart picked the perfect time to record the first playoff goal of his career.
With the Cats emptying their net in favor of the extra attacker, the tenacious forward knocked down a floating puck, turned and scored from the slot late in regulation to force the extra frame.

"Those are the kind of situations you want to be in as a hockey player," Reinhart said. "It's a game that can really go either way at the end of it. We stuck with it and we're happy with the result. Obviously, it's a much better feeling going back home 2-2 rather than down 3-1."
Netting his goal with 2:04 left in the third period, Reinhart's tally stands as the latest game-tying goal in Panthers playoff history, besting the previous top mark of 3:07 held by Gustav Forsling.
Finishing the regular season third on the Panthers in scoring with a career-high 82 points (33 goals, 49 assists), Reinhart has accumulated a goal and an assist in the postseason thus far.

3. BOB'S BIG SAVES

Somewhat lost in the shuffle of tonight's win was another huge performance from Bobrovsky.
Challenged throughout the game to stay in a rhythm while facing only 16 shots, five of the 14 saves he made were labeled as high-danger, according to the numbers at NaturalStatTrick.com.
Among those stops was a game-saving breakaway denial on Marcus Johansson just before he headed to the bench to set the stage for Reinhart's winner in the waning minutes of regulation.
"It's huge having him back there," Reinhart said of his goaltender. "He's been solid all series. He gives us all the confidence in the world to make plays, and it was no different tonight."
Manning the crease in all four games of the series thus far, Bobrovsky, who set a franchise record with 39 wins this season, has allowed more than two goals in just one of those starts.
"Bob was great," Brunette said.

4. TURNING THE TIDE

The Panthers still want to work out a few things on the power play, but their execution at even strength against the Capitals in Game 4 looked a lot more like the team we're used to seeing.
Per NaturalStatTrick.com, Florida finished the game with strong advantages in shot attempts (49-27), shots on goal (20-10) and scoring chances (21-14) at 5-on-5 against the Capitals.
"It was great," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "The whole game it was positive. We knew to just keep grinding, keep finding the way, and keep playing our game. This was the best game that we played this series. We found a way to play our game and we got rewarded."
With Brunette shaking up his lines and pairings prior to puck drop, every player on the Panthers ended the game with a Corsi for rating of 50% or better. Leading the charge, Forsling, who was back with MacKenzie Weegar on the blue line, posted a team-high 79.31 CF% while at 5-on-5.
"I just think it's a good team win," Verhaeghe said. "We wanted to come in and have our best game of the series, and I think we did a pretty good job tonight. It's a building block. We know that we have another level to get to and that we're a great team. It's building some confidence."

5. PENALTY KILL SHINES

Even in the most dire of situations, the penalty kill kept coming through for the Panthers.
Although they surrendered one goal - an unfortunate deflection in the first period - the penalty kill finished the game 4-for-5 against the Capitals, including killing off a very threatening 5-on-3.
Helping limit Washington to just four shots on goal over the course of those five power plays, Weegar (5:08), Aaron Ekblad (4:53), Barkov (6:16) and Jonathan Huberdeau (6:02) led Florida in shorthanded ice time.
As the playoffs roll along, special teams will continue to be more and more important.
"Right now all the emotions are about this game, but we'll cool down and start thinking about the next game as soon as possible," Barkov said. "Glad to go home even in the series, 2-2. Just keep working, keep getting better and keep finding ways to win."