In control of their playoff destiny with just two games left in the season, the Panthers (42-31-7) currently have the same number of points as the New York Islanders (41-30-9) and one more point than the Pittsburgh Penguins (40-30-10) in a three-way battle for two wild-card spots.
"We have to keep it going," said Tkachuk, who leads the team with six game-winning goals this season. "Teams around us are winning. Fortunately for us we kind of control our destiny here. Just got to keep winning here. We all want to make it in so bad. We're doing whatever it takes."
Following a scoreless first period in which the Panthers had a goal taken off the board for a high stick, the Capitals opened the scoring in the second period when Dylan Strome took advantage of some chaos around the crease and fired a loose puck past Alex Lyon to make it 1-0 at 8:51.
Answering for the Panthers, Carter Verhaeghe beat Charlie Lindgren with a long blast to make it 1-1 at 10:56 with his team-leading 41st goal of the season. Less than three minutes later, Aaron Ekblad put the Panthers up 2-1 when he deposited a juicy rebound on the power play at 13:47.
Prior to Ekblad's tally, Lyon robbed Sonny Milano on a point-blank chance to save a goal.
"If we give our goaltender a chance to win the game, he's going to help us do that," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of Lyon, who finished with 22 saves to improve to a perfect 6-0-0 over his last six starts. "We helped him in the third. He had to make a couple saves there in the second that were really important. We have a completely different pressure dynamic in our room than in theirs, and he's been a big part of us handling that for the last six [games]."
Letting the Panthers enjoy their lead only for a moment, Tom Wilson got the game back to even in a hurry for the Capitals when he got behind the defense, drove toward the net and sent a slick centering feed from Conor Sheary past Lyon and into the cage to make it 2-2 at 16:05.
In the third period, the Panthers put it all on the line. Over the final 20 minutes, they led 18-3 in shots on goal and 22-1 in scoring chances. With their season potentially at stake, you could see every player find a new gear as all of them emptied their tanks every time they hit the ice.
But it wasn't until the tension peaked that they were finally rewarded.
With just one minute left in regulation, Tkachuk cut off a clearing attempt from Lindgren along the boards and fired the puck right back at the cage. Catching the Capitals goaltender off-guard, the rubber sailed into the twine to put the Panthers on top 3-2 and send the bench into a frenzy.
