RECAP: Panthers 4, Capitals 2

SUNRISE, Fla. – The fourth line can often be the engine for a team in need.

Tonight, it powered the Florida Panthers to two points.

With Ryan Lomberg netting the go-ahead goal with 5:32 left in the third period, the Panthers earned a 4-2 win over the Washington Capitals at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday.

Their first post-break win, the Panthers now sit at 31-15-4 in the standings.

“It was great for our line,” Lomberg said of the goal. “The big boys have been doing the majority of the pulling all year, so to have some depth scoring for our team is a great thing.”

With eight combined penalties in the first period, the opening 20 minutes featured mostly special teams. Just before the midway point, the Capitals even earned a penalty shot, but Sergei Bobrovsky came up in the clutch and denied Beck Malenstyn with a blocker save.

Of course, his teammates knew he’d stop it.

“No surprise,” Lomberg said. “That was the vibe on the bench when the guy picked up the puck and was going on the ice. I don’t think a single one of us was overly worried. We’ve seen it all season in practice.”

On the power play, the Capitals broke the ice when Alex Ovechkin, digging his skates into his usual spot near the center of the left circle, connected on a one-timer to make it 1-0 at 16:38.

Evening the score in the second period, Matthew Tkachuk – still riding high after a torrid scoring spree in January – got the Panthers on the board when a long shot from Gustav Forsling hit off his skate and sailed past Darcy Kuemper to make it 1-1 at 4:29.

Not long after that, the Panthers appeared to take the lead on a goal from Evan Rodrigues, but the sweet strike was stricken from the scoreboard after a successful offside challenge by Washington. 

Moments after officials let what appeared to be a trip against the Panthers come and go without a whistle, the Capitals regained the lead when Anthony Mantha went to the net and re-directed a centering feed from Michael Sgarbossa into the cage to make it 2-1 at 14:03.  

“They started pretty fast, pretty hard,” said Bobrovsky, who finished with 21 saves in his first start since representing the Panthers at the NHL All-Star Game in Toronto over the weekend. “There was a little bit of work in the beginning. I thought our guys did a great job.”

Earning a power play after Tom Wilson was sent to the box for elbowing, the Panthers got the game deadlocked again when Sam Reinhart tipped in a point shot from Tkachuk to make it 2-2 at 17:32 with his league-leading 21^st goal on the man advantage this season.

After Reinhart, the next highest player on the NHL’s leaderboard has 13 power-play goals.

“We were able to get a response right before the intermission with a big power-play goal,” said Tkachuk, who led the Panthers with three points (one goal, two assists) against Washington.

After negating a clearing attempt along the boards, Dmitry Kulikov threaded the puck -- a “beautiful pass,” according to Lomberg -- into the slot and right onto Lomberg’s stick for an absolute rocket of a one-timer that sent the Panthers ahead 3-2 at 14:28 of the third period.

Dominant from start to finish, the fourth line, which matched up against Washington’s top line at times, controlled 90% of all shot attempts at 5-on-5 when it was deployed tonight.

“All of them had such a strong impact in the game,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “It’s leadership in a lot of different ways, but in some ways that line led in style of play. Their forecheck was really good and heavy. They didn’t cheat for it. They didn’t get in behind the puck. They didn’t give up anything to be as aggressive as they were on the forecheck. That’s a game I don’t think we’ve really played in a while. In January, I don’t think we had the legs to get on that forecheck, but tonight we did and I thought that line drove the bus on it.”

Following a key penalty kill in the waning minutes of regulation, the Panthers iced the game away when Eetu Luostarinen scored an empty-net goal to extend the lead to 4-2 at 19:06.

Over the final two periods, Florida led 32-10 in scoring chances.  

“We want to play our game, and that’s a hard game to play,” Maurice said. “Some nights it doesn’t go for you. You just want to be able to understand it. I liked the second two periods because it’s closer to the way we’re supposed to look.”

THEY SAID IT

“I feel like I’m in the process. I’m getting there. It a little bit felt like a month I haven’t played. It was good to have a lot of shots in the beginning. It was good, but even better to get the win.” – Sergei Bobrovsky

“[Ryan Lomberg’s goal] was coming for that line. They were playing amazing for us tonight. Very timely of them. They’ve been working so hard and getting so many chances. You knew it was going to go in sooner rather than later. I’m so happy they were rewarded.” – Matthew Tkachuk

“We have to learn how to play these tight games. We’re going to be in a lot of them moving forward here and into the playoffs. I thought we did a great job for the majority of the game tonight, sticking with it and playing the right way. We got the two points.” – Ryan Lomberg

CATS STATS

- The Panthers led 26-9 in high-danger shot attempts.

- Aleksander Barkov went 12-for-20 (60%) in the faceoff circle.

- Niko Mikkola notched a team-high four hits.

- Gustav Forsling blocked a team-high four shots.

- Sergei Bobrovsky made four high-danger saves, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

- The Panthers earned their 14^th comeback win of the season.

- Sam Reinhart’s 38 goals are tied for the seventh most in a season in franchise history.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will wrap up their three-game homestand when they host the Colorado Avalanche at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.

For tickets, click HERE.