The Washington Capitals played great defensively and scored three unanswered goals in the third period to take Game One in Florida. The Capitals handed the Panthers their first regulation loss of the season after the Atlantic Division champions took a lead into the final period.
The Capitals, the best road team in the NHL, will now look to take a 2-0 series lead, but without one of their best all-around players in Tom Wilson. Wilson, who has a lower-body injury, has been replaced in the lineup by Brett Leason, jumbling up the bottom six.
Vitek Vanecek will be back in net and once again face Sergei Bobrovsky.
Tonight’s game is on NBC Sports Washington. Here are today’s Daily Deals, which feature some good stuff IMO.
Storylines
- Every member of the Baltimore Orioles wore Capitals shirts during batting practice
- Carl Hagelin skates with strength and conditioning coach in Florida as he works his way back from scary eye injury
- Garnet Hathaway the Capitals’ nominee for King Clancy Memorial Trophy for third season in a row
- F1 drivers struggle knowing who the Washington Capitals are
- Kansas City Current’s Jaycie Johnson rocks Alex Ovechkin jersey before NWSL game
- Vitek Vanecek found out he would be the postseason starter on the team plane: Laviolette ‘wanted me to be better like Bobrovsky’
- Some loose thoughts about why Brett Leason may be playing over Connor McMichael and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby
Caps lines
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 73-Sheary
90-Johansson, 19-Backstrom, 77-Oshie
39-Mantha, 20-Eller, 21-Hathaway
22-Larsson, 26-Dowd, 49-Leason
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 3-Jensen
57-van Riemsdyk, 2-Schultz
Vanecek
Panthers Lines
Verhaeghe – Barkov – Duclair
Huberdeau – Bennett – Reinhart
Marchment – Lundell – Giroux
Acciari – Luostarinen – Hornqvist
Weegar – Ekblad
Forsling – Gudas
Chiarot – Montour
Bobrovsky
Aaron Ekblad strikes first. 1-0 FLA.
Martin Fehervary went down to block a shot, it hit his knee, and bounced past Vitek Vanecek. Horrible luck. Ekblad gets credit for the goal.
EKKY ON THE BOARD FIRST!
YOU LOVE TO SEE IT! pic.twitter.com/n7cs8QISLv
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 6, 2022
Barkov makes it 2-0 FLA.
Complete collapse by the Capitals at the end of the period.
Huberdeau danced through the Caps to feed Barkov and it's 2-0 @FlaPanthers 👀🔥 pic.twitter.com/d099HAvDmR
— NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) May 6, 2022
Nicklas Backstrom from no-angle on the PP. 2-1 FLA.
Impressive angle from Backy pic.twitter.com/sAIu6QJ02q
— x – Washington Capitals (@Capitals) May 6, 2022
Mason Marchment responds on the very next shift. 3-1 FLA.
TELL 'EM MARCHY 🗣 pic.twitter.com/8N2YP1IOBz
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 6, 2022
Insane stat midway through this game.
Vanecek is only to blame for one of them.
Vitek Vanecek has given up 3 goals on his first 7 shots.
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) May 6, 2022
Lundell makes it 4-1 FLA after a bad Caps’ turnover.
Lars Eller: Charmin soft turnover.
EASYYYYY BOYS pic.twitter.com/l4fy8PyrW6
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 6, 2022
Verhaege beats Vanecek clean with a shot from far away. 5-1 FLA.
Swaggy with the snipe 🔥 pic.twitter.com/J8eCLf7AUA
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 6, 2022
Samsonov replaces Vanecek in net to start the third.
Vanecek gave up 5 goals on 18 shots.
Read the RMNB recap.
Cats chase Vanecek from his cage in Game Two victory: Panthers beat Capitals 5-1
Comment below! We’ll be updating this live throughout the night.
