RECAP: Panthers 5, Capitals 2

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Veteran teams know how to bounce back.

Ending their six-game road trip on a high note, the Florida Panthers looked like themselves again during a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Saturday.

On the first half of their back-to-back, the Panthers had suffered a 9-1 loss at Carolina.

“It’s a hard thing we went through for 48 hours,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “Back-to-back is not easy in this league. You’re playing a team that’s fighting for their playoff lives. I ran the top end really hard. We had a very difficult night emotionally [against the Hurricanes], and they handled it.”

With the Panthers leading 10-1 in shots on goal a little past the halfway point of the first period, the Capitals thought they’d broken the ice on a goal from Connor McMichael.

But after a challenge from the Panthers for offside, the goal came off the board.

Keeping their momentum intact thanks to some nice work from the video coaches, the Panthers opened the scoring – for real – soon after when A.J. Greer scored to make it 1-0 at 13:23.

Continuing his breakout season, Greer is now up to a career-high 10 goals.

“I’ve been fortunate with a couple bounces like tonight, but I feel being able to read off each other and being hard on the forecheck makes it easier for them (my linemates),” Greer said. “That comfortability that we have together, being able to read off each other, now that we’ve had numerous games together is a great thing. Now, you just kind of play.”

A great start, the Panthers led 14-4 in shots on goal after 20 minutes.

With the action at 4-on-4 early in the second period, the Capitals evened the score when Jacob Chychrun beat Daniil Tarasov with a snipe from the left circle to make it 1-1 at 2:04.

Later, Chychrun buried a shot through traffic to put the Capitals up 2-1 at 10:04.

“Even when we got down 2-1, there wasn’t a chance that the game was over or we’d let something slip,” Maurice said. “You can expect them to have a better second period than they had in the first. That’s what happened. We get down in that game, but the players know the game. They spend enough time in it and know that in the second period we’re still OK.”

Indeed, they were.

Getting the game knotted back up, Sam Bennett set up shot in the slot and tucked a rebound past Thompson after a point shot from Niko Mikkola to make it 2-2 at 11:40.

“On back-to-backs, you just need to find a way to grind it out,” Mikkola said.

Finding the back of the net in the second straight game after putting pen to paper on a two-year contract extension, Uvis Balinskis sent the Panthers ahead when he beat Thompson with a rocket of a shot from beyond the circles on the power play to make it 3-2 at 15:16.

“He’s been great,” Bennett said of Balinskis, who’s had to step up in the absence of Seth Jones. “He’s doing really nice there. It’s not easy to jump into a new spot mid-season, but he looks like he’s been there all year. Yeah, he’s made some great plays.”

Keeping the lead intact early in the third period, the Panthers held their ground on a penalty kill that ended with Tarasov gobbling up one of Alexander Ovechkin’s signature one-timers from the left circle.

Of Tarasov’s 23 saves in the win, six were considered high-danger by NaturalStatTrick.com.

“Tarry was unbelievable,” Greer said.

At 18:40, Anton Lundell extended Florida’s lead to 4-2 win with an empty-net goal.

Adding one more goal for good measure, Carter Verhaeghe locked in the 5-2 win with an empty-net goal of his own and sent fans to the exits with 32.9 seconds left on the clock.

In the third period, the Panthers led 14-5 in scoring chances.

Going 3-3-0 on their road trip, the defending Stanley Cup champions now sit at 25-19-3 in the standings.

“We didn’t sit back,” Bennett said of the team’s strong finish. “Sometimes that’s the tendency when you have a lead, but we kept playing hard. We kept the pressure on them. They didn’t have too many great looks. That’s all you can ask for in a third period.”

THEY SAID IT

“I know he scored the goal, and that was fantastic, but the rest of his game was just outstanding. He got into holes and broke up a whole bunch of plays.” – Paul Maurice on Uvis Balinskis

“We have a good character group in this locker room. It shows that we care. We showed up today. It was just a solid all-around game from everyone.” – Sam Bennett on bouncing back from Friday’s loss at Carolina

CATS STATS

- The Panthers improved to 14-7-1 in games following a loss this season.

- Mackie Samoskevich ranks second on the Panthers with 20 penalties drawn.

- Daniil Tarasov saved 1.52 goals above expected, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

- Anton Lundell went 13-for-19 (68.4%) in the faceoff circle.

- Cole Schwindt had a team-high four hits.

- Sam Bennett racked up a team-high three points (1G, 2A).

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will return home for a one-game pitstop with a matchup against Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday at 6 p.m. ET.

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