The Washington Capitals gave the Florida Panthers their first win of the young season as the Caps could never fully recover from a horrid first period that saw them give up four goals. The Panthers eventually would prevail in a shootout, downing the good guys 6-5.
The Capitals out-shot the Panthers 31 to 30 and out-attempted them at five-on-five 42 to 35.
By Chris Cerullo 4 years ago
The Washington Capitals showed a lot of mettle Friday night, clawing their way back from a 4-1 deficit to force overtime. Per Ted Starkey, the game marked the second time this season the reigning Stanley Cup champions have gotten a standings point in a game they trailed by two or more goals.
The Capitals eventually lost in the shootout 6-5, but boy, what a shootout it was.
TJ Oshie, Aleksander Barkov, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vincent Trochek, and Jonathan Huberdeau all scored videogame goals.
I’m not going to offer much analysis. Just look at these and enjoy the good hockey.
The Washington Capitals game against the Florida Panthers on Friday was wacky and had a bit of everything: high scoring, both starting goalies getting benched, both teams scoring three unanswered goals, a wild overtime period, and a shootout. There was also some physical play, including a controversial high hit levied by Alex Ovechkin.
Less than a minute into the second period, Ovechkin nailed Panthers defenseman Mark Pysyk with a high hit at the top of the circle in the offensive zone.
The Panthers later announced that Pysyk would not be returning to the game due to an “upper body injury.”
In his postgame interview, Panthers head coach Bob Boughner expressed his opinion on the hit, calling it “a head shot.”
The Florida Panthers entered Friday night looking for their first victory of the season and oh boy did they sure come out of the gate firing. The Capitals got ambushed in the first period for four goals against, but they weren’t out of this one just yet.
The Panthers scored about 568 goals in the first period, sandwiched around a strike by John Carlson. Snakebitten Brett Connolly and Jakub Vrana would pull the home side closer with a goal apiece in the second. DSP tied things up shortly after, but Jonathan Huberdeau struck on a two man advantage to restore the Floridian lead.
Very late strike from Nicklas Backstrom to take this thing to OT. Shootout bullets time!
Panthers beat Caps 6-5.
By Chris Cerullo 4 years ago
Last season’s NHL GIF Of The Year just happened again.
Friday night, after Jakub Vrana found Brett Connolly wide open in front of the net for a second-period goal, the two teammates went back to the bench. Vrana wanted a fist bump and… oh no.
It happened again.
The Washington Capitals’ last home game before their western road swing comes against one of only two teams in the NHL still without a win. That would be the Florida Panthers who have somehow managed to only play four games to this point and have not won any of them. They’re going to be desperate to change that tonight.
Yours truly will have your recap, so get ready for a lot of tweets and bullet points that are only funny to me. Your fantastic game coverage on NBCS Washington starts at 6 PM, and you can stream all of it, including the entire game, online.
By Chris Cerullo 4 years ago
