Two of the NHL’s hottest teams took the ice in Sunrise, FL as the Washington Capitals visited the Florida Panthers. Coming into the game, the Capitals were coming off a tough road loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Meanwhile, the Panthers suffered their first overtime loss of the season against the Boston Bruins on Halloween Eve.
Recap
In a very weird yet highly intense game, the Panthers were able to come out on top, 5-4. Both teams used two goalies throughout the game. Sergei Bobrovsky was stellar to start the game, stopping all thirteen shots faced. Unfortunately for the Cats, Bobrovsky was unable to return to the game with an upper-body injury. Backup Goaltender Spencer Knight came in and stopped 25 of 29 shots faced.
The Panthers started off scorching hot, scoring two goals in the first period. Those goals were made by Captain Aleksander Barkov and Assistant Captain Aaron Ekblad. However, the second period was back and forth. For the Capitals, goals were scored by Sprong, Ovechkin, and Wilson. For the Panthers, Montour and Barkov once again were able to find the back of the net.
In the third period, the Capitals pushed strong and tied the game to force overtime. The Caps goal was scored by Connor McMichael for his first career NHL goal. After being knotted up at four, the game was taken into overtime.
The overtime period was certainly one-sided as the Panthers secured the victory. The winning goal was scored by Center Eetu Luostarinen, his third goal of the season. The goal was directed in off of the Caps defense behind the net of Capitals Goaltender Vitek Vanecek.
The Panthers are now 9-0-1, and are riding a 10-game point streak.
Other Notes
- Chase Priskie became the first South Florida product to play for his hometown Florida Panthers when he made his NHL debut Thursday night.
- Sergei Bobrovsky is day-to-day, per head coach Andrew Brunette.
- Aleksander Barkov tied Olli Jokinen for the most goals in Panthers history (188).
- Martin Fehervary registered a game-high seven hits against Florida, matching a Capitals’ single-game high this season (Garnet Hathaway: seven hits, Oct. 25 at Ottawa).
- Alex Ovechkin has his 10th goal of 2021-22 already. The last player to have more in their team’s first nine games of a season? Mario Lemieux (12 in 1992-93). It’s also the second-fewest team games he’s needed to reach 10 goals (Fewest: 8 in 2017-18)
- Alex Ovechkin’s second period goal was his first career goal scored on goaltender Spencer Knight, the 150th different goaltender Ovechkin has scored on in his career. There have been 6,598 skaters in NHL history who have scored 150 or fewer goals in their career.
- Alex Ovechkin recorded three points (1g, 2a) against Florida, marking his sixth multi-point effort in 10 games this season. Ovechkin’s 18 points (10g, 8a) rank third in the NHL, trailing only Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl (9g-11a-20p) and Connor McDavid (7g-12a-19p).
- The Capitals have earned at least one point in nine of their 10 games this season (5-1-4). The Panthers have earned at least one point in every game this season.
- McMichael is the fourth Capitals rookie to score their first career goal this season (Hendrix Lapierre, Martin Fehervary, Brett Leason). Washington’s four rookie goal scorers are tied with the Anaheim Ducks for the most in the NHL.
- Andrew Brunette recorded his first home win as the Panthers interim head coach.
Next Up
Following this game, the Florida Panthers (9-0-1) will be back at FLA Live Arena to take on the undefeated Carolina Hurricanes (9-0-0) on Saturday night. Meanwhile, the Capitals (5-1-3) will head back home to take on the Philadelphia Flyers (5-2-1) on Saturday night as well.