The Washington Capitals came to Sunrise looking to derail the Florida Panthers and that is what they did. After a hard-fought battle and great goaltending on both sides, the Caps won the game by a score of 4-2.
Recap
The first period was a back and forth battle as the Capitals got on the board first with a goal by Tom Wilson less than four minutes into the game. Later in the first, Sam Bennett got the Cats on the board tying the game heading into the second.
In the second, the Panthers got a huge goal by Claude Giroux off a rebound from Capitals Goaltender Vitek Vanececk putting the Panthers up 2-1. Vanececk was the winning goaltender in the matchup as he stopped 30 of 32 shots.
On the other side, Sergei Bobrovsky did all he could to keep the Panthers in the game. Bobrovsky stopped 34 of 37 Capitals shots. In the third period, the Capitals outplayed the Panthers by scoring three unanswered goals. The first by Evgeny Kuznetsov, the second by T.J Oshie and an empty net goal by Lars Eller.
Up Next
The Panthers and Capitals will battle it out once again from Sunrise, Florida on Thursday, May 5th. It will be a Cinco de Mayo hockey game. The series will either be tied going back to Washington or the Cats will be trailing 2-0.
The Panthers look to score more and stay out of the penalty box in their next matchup. GO CATS!