RECAP: Panthers 5, Capitals 3

SUNRISE, Fla. – The “Comeback Cats” wouldn’t be denied.

Pulling off yet another third-period comeback, the Florida Panthers kicked off their back-to-back with a 5-3 win over the Washington Capitals at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday.

Improving to 21-5-2, the Panthers have won nine of their last 12 games.

“We’ve played really well from the start of December on, and you want to get that good feeling going again,” head coach Paul Maurice said of his team clawing back to secure a crucial two points yet again. “We had a tough one the other night, so it’s important in the game [to come back], but maybe more important overall in the psyche of your team.”

Briefly putting the Capitals on top, Tom Wilson followed up on a shot from Martin Fehervary and ripped the rebound right past Sergei Boborvsky to make it 1-0 at 3:53 of the first period.

Just 42 seconds later, Anton Lundell went to the net and directed a perfect dish from Jeff Petry past Washington goalie Logan Thompson to even the score and make it 1-1 at 4:35.

“Any time you go down a goal, you want to tie it up,” Petry said. “We didn’t want to open things up and have a one-goal deficit turn into two goals. It was a matter of just sticking with our style of play and making sure we’re playing the right way.”

On their second power play of the first period, the Panthers took the lead when Sam Reinhart beat Thompson with a wicked snipe from the right circle to make it 2-1 at 12:45.

Getting into their own penalty trouble near the very end of the first period, the Panthers, after killing off 50 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage for the Capitals, let the lead get away when Wilson buried a one-timer from the slot during a 5-on-4 to make it 2-2 at 19:17.

In the second period, the red light stayed off.

With a few close calls at both ends of the ice, arguably the best scoring chance of the period for the Capitals was shut down by Bobrovsky, who robbed Wilson with an eye-popping glove save on a 2-on-1 rush to deny a would-be hat trick.

On a delayed penalty in the third period, the Capitals broke the deadlock and regained the lead when Dylan Strome fired a long shot past Bobrovsky, who was not only screen but had his paddle knocked away moments earlier, to make it 3-2 at 3:11.

Getting the game back to even, Brad Marchand, a split second after Florida’s power play expired, backhanded a floating rebound into the back of the net to make it 3-3 at 6:16.

During his eight-game point streak, Marchand has tallied six goals and seven assists.

Sending the Panthers ahead, Aaron Ekblad took a pass from Reinhart and beat Thompson with his patented “Ek-blast” from the inside of the right circle to make it 4-3 at 13:12.

“Unreal setup,” Ekblad said of Reinhart’s assist. “He’s always got his head up and making great plays. I’m just happy to be the beneficiary of it.”

With 2:48 remaining in regulation, the Capitals earned a power play that eventually turned into a 6-on-4 advantage after they pulled Thompson for the extra attacker.

But with Bobrovsky shutting the door, Reinhart locked in the win when he backhanded the puck nearly the entire length of the rink and into the empty net to make it 5-3 at 19:25.

In the final two minutes, Bobrovsky had key saves on both Alex Ovechkin and Jakob Chychrun.

Climbing the NHL’s all-time wins leaderboard, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner finished with 23 saves to earn his 446^th career win and claim sole possession of eighth place.

“He had four or five 2-on-1, backdoor saves,” Reinhart said of Bobrovsky’s performance. “That’s what he does. We’re a team where we’re trying to be aggressive, and the breakdowns that we do have, Bobby is constantly there making the big stop for us.”

THEY SAID IT

“It was a bit of disjointed game just with the amount power plays and the timing of them and the pace of the game. It didn’t feel like our last one. We’ll build hopefully in our sharpness.” – Paul Maurice

“It was kind of an ugly first two [periods], but we were able to stick with it.” – Sam Reinhart

“Coming off the Christmas break, for us, we want to pick up where we left off. I think this was a good starting point, and we have a challenge ahead tomorrow.” – Jeff Petry

“When that crowd pops, you feel it in your gut. It's awesome.” – Aaron Ekblad

CATS STATS

- Sam Reinhart extended his point streak to five games.

- Uvis Balinskis had a team-high four hits.

- Sam Bennett went 9-for-12 (75%) in the faceoff circle.

- With a goal and an assist against the Capitals, Aaron Ekblad has passed Stephen Weiss (394) and moved into fourth place on Florida's all-time points list with 395.

- The Panthers led 44-20 in shot attempts at 5-on-5.

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

WHAT’S NEXT?

Rest, recharge and do it again.

Returning to the ice in less than 24 hours, the Panthers will close out their back-to-back with a divisional matchup against the Montreal Canadiens at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.

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