On the same day Vince McMahon announced the rebirth of the XFL, the Caps visited Florida to take on the Panthers.
The Caps killed off three early penalties only to see Denis Malgin give the Panthers a 1-0 lead a little over halfway into the opening frame. The Caps finally got a power play and that led to Nick Backstrom tying the game late in the first.
Malgin scored again in the second to put the Panthers back on top. Later in the period, Brooks Orpik wisely threw the puck on net and Alex Ovechkin tipped it home to tie the game. Late in the second, John Carlson capped off some nice play from the top line and nicely put the good guys on top. Nice.
Early in the third, Brett Connolly took a good feed from Andre Burakovsky and put it in the net to put the Caps up 4-2.
Caps win 4-2!
- The Panthers started a guy named Harri Sateri in goal.
- There was a foot race early in the game and, well, we’ll let Joe B take it from here.
“Ekblad trying to win a foot race here against Orpik”- Joe B
You’ll never guess how this ended.
— RMNB (@russianmachine) January 26, 2018
- Congrats to Alex Ovechkin on his 500th assist and on yet another 30-goal season.
- Pretty nice that John Carlson scored his 69th career goal tonight.
- Thing that is great: when Christian Djoos activates from the point with his inside-out move. So good.
- I am sure the Caps second goal made Alan May smile. Brooks Orpik innocently got the puck near the net and Ovechkin tipped it home.
- Not the best night defensively for the Burakovsky-Backstrom-Oshie line. But those three should be just fine so we’ll let it slide.
- Who do you guys think is going to win the Royal Rumble?
- Evgeny Kuznetsov had a strong game. Seems like he could have had 5 assists in the second period if the Caps had buried more chances. Hopefully he’s okay after getting dinged up in the third. Seriously, hopefully he’s okay because can you imagine this team without him for an extended period?
- It was also good to see such a strong effort from Andre Burakovsky on the Connolly goal.
- My sources are telling me that Manny Machado is still on the Orioles.
- TJ Oshie? Still snakebit.
- Speaking of snakebit, Carlson hit the pipe twice during the Caps 5-on-3.
- Tom Wilson’s penalty with about 9 minutes left in the game was dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsCats pic.twitter.com/QMsNPEJDuV
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 26, 2018
A sleepy start followed by some strong play. A good win to lead us into the break.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Panthers
Headline image: Jeff Sanzare
