After two-straight lossees, the Washington Capitals start the week of the Thankgiving holiday with a tough test against the Florida Panthers — the defending Stanley Cup champions.
The Capitals offense, which has only combined for three goals over the last two games, has looked mostly listless without Alex Ovechkin, so Spencer Carbery is putting his lines in the blender. Logan Thompson will get the start in goal. Meanwhile, the Panthers will counter with Spencer Knight.
The Capitals-Panthers game is on Monumental Sports Network. Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin have the call. Puck drop is shortly after 7:00 pm. Tonight is the start of the Capitals’ mentor trip.
Lines
Washington Capitals
Florida Panthers
Tunnel shenanigans
It's the "AAAAAHHHH" from Willy for us 🥲#ALLCAPS | @CaesarsSports pic.twitter.com/PcAomfNThE
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 25, 2024
1st Period
Puck is dropped.
Only two shots through the first 6:12. And Florida owns both of them.
And on Florida’s third shot…
🚨 1-0 Florida Panthers. FLA Goal: Niko Mikkola (1). Assists: S. Bennett (10), C. Verhaeghe (10). Time: 07:00.
Mikkola scores from no angle down the left wing, beating Thompson far side from just outside the crease.
McMichael finds Raddysh just outside the crease for a one-timer but Knight makes a point-blank save.
Carter Verhaeghe is robbed by Thompson.
The Panthers are playing at a pace that the Capitals are struggling to handle.
Lars Eller for cross-checking at 10:06. Panthers to the power play. The Caps have to survive this kill.
🚨 1-1 tie. WSH Goal: Lars Eller (5). Assists: J Chychrun (4), H. Lapierre (4). Time: 17:49.
Pierre-Luc Dubois with a huge block in the final seconds of the period though he’s hobbling a bit.
At intermission: The Capitals outshot the Panthers 9 to 4 and out-attempted them 21 to 12 at five-on-five. But the pace the Panthers played at seemed to really give the Capitals trouble.
2nd Period
Puck is dropped.
Rasmus Sandin bails out Thompson and stops a gimme wraparound attempt by Florida.
Matt Roy to the box for cross-checking.
TVR deflects a pass into Anton Lundell’s face. Lundell is off the ice for repairs four minutes into the period.
Referee Gord Dwyer just took a puck to the hand.
A few minutes later, a puck deflects into TVR’s face. He’s holding the left side of his jaw as he skates off.
Matthew Tkachuk checks Martin Fehervary hard to the ice. And now he’s holding him down to the ice. Fehervary punched him in the back of the head and now both guys are off for roughing.
Dubois will serve an unsportsmanlike penalty at 10:56.
Out of the penalty box, PLD is sprung on a breakaway but shoots high.
Caps get their first power play of the night as Mackie Samoskevich is whistled for holding at 13:19.
Wilson finds Strome on a semi-breakaway but Knight denies him.
Barkov nearly scores between the legs but appears to miss the net. Wow.
Uvis Balinskis to the box for tripping Tom Wilson. Caps go to their second power play.
At intermission: The Caps and Panthers are tied 1-1. The Capitals are outshooting the Panthers 17 to 14 and out-attempting them 41 to 30 at 5v5. Despite shots being in the Caps favor, the Panthers lead in expected goals 1.87 to 1.23 at all strengths.
3rd Period
Puck is dropped.
Connor McMichael is sprung on a semi-breakaway but can’t bury it on the backhand. He did draw a penalty on Ekblad for slashing, giving the Capitals a two-man advantage.
🚨 2-1 Washington Capitals. WSH PPG: Jakov Chychrun (6). Assists: D. Strome (23). Time: 01:18.
On a five-on-three power play, Chychrun beats Knight with a screen in front of the night.
Mackie Samoskevich bloodied by a big hit along the corner boards by Nic Dowd. The Panthers got big mad and Greer takes an interference call going after Dowd. Samoskevich is down the tunnel to the locker room.
Andrew Mangiapane off to the penalty box for holding. At the same time, Mikkola punched Dubois in the back of the head but no call. whaaaaaaaaa.
🚨 3-1 Washington Capitals. WSH ENG: Lars Eller (6). Assists: P. Dubois (12), J. Chychrun (5). Time: 18:32.
Lars seals the deal with the empty netter. A multi-goal game for the Tiger.
🚨 4-1 Washington Capitals. WSH ENG: Ivan Miroshnichenko (1). Unassisted. Time: 19:37.
Capitals win 4-1. The Capitals outshot the Panthers 31 to 22 and out-attempted them 59 to 38 at 5v5. That’s the Capitals seventh come-from-behind victory on the season, tied for the most in the NHL.
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