The Washington Capitals headed down to the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area for a hockey match. Or maybe it was the Kazakhstan desert. Either way, no one was there.

The Capitals got the scoring started after a great play by the love of my life Nate Schmidt, who fed the puck in front to a waiting Justin Williams, ever whacking until he scored his first goal of the season. Less than two minutes later, Evgeny Kuznetsov got his first regular-season goal since March 1 when he tipped in a shot from Matt Niskanen. Before the period was up, however, Michael Matheson surprised Braden Holtby with a quick shot from the half board.

The second period landed with a flop like this year’s Al Smith dinner, with the Panthers outshooting the Caps 14-4 and Jaromir Jagr netting his 750th career goal. The joke is in reference to something that was on TV during the game, which I turned off because it was too boring.

In the third, Alex Ovechkin deflected another Niskanen point drive. The Caps flipped the script on the second period, only allowing a handful of shots in the closing 20. Marcus Johansson added one late. Caps beat Panthers 4-2.

• Brooks Orpik had the best even-strength possession numbers of the night. Hmm.
• Orpik’s partner Nate Schmidt jumped way up in the play, fighting off Florida defenders to set up Williams. All Capitals D-men now have points this season. Fun facts for you.
• Schmidt’s assist meant the Capitals have now scored first in all of their games this season. All your Twitter jokes last year must have hurt their feelings.
• All the crises from after game two are banished. The Capitals first line was the only forward trio that wasn’t meh. After TJ Oshie scored two goals on Tuesday, Evgeny Kuznetsov tallied for the first time since the flying bracelets game in Philadelphia. Alex Ovechkin added another. Neither goal was pretty, but they came from solid play.
• Three assists by defensemen tonight. D: activated.
• This happened and we all made a face.

Daniel Winnik left the ice after blocking a shot with his head. Scary. pic.twitter.com/Rw4xrbZsJ3

— Ian Oland (@ianoland) October 21, 2016

That was a weird game. The first was even enough, the Panthers dominated the second, and finally the Capitals controlled the third. I don’t have many deep thoughts on this one, but the Caps have grabbed seven of eight available points so far this season.

Full Coverage of Caps at Panthers