The Florida Panthers are BACK!
The Panthers secured a huge statement win in Game 2 on Thursday night, defeating the Washington Capitals 5-1. Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe led the way for the Cats with a goal and an assist each.
First Period:
Early on in the game, the Capitals controlled the game, holding the Panthers to only two shots in the first 14:30. Then… the Panthers would get a lucky break.
Aleksander Barkov would set up Aaron Ekblad through the crease, and he would score his first playoff goal at 16:20 when his shot from the point would bounce off the stick of a Washington defender, and then pass Vitak Vanecek. Then Barkov would get his first of the playoffs 1:38 later when he would finish a perfect pass from Jonathan Huberdeau on the front door.
Second Period:
The game would take a physical turn going into the second period, and it would start early. 38 seconds in, Radko Gudas would pull a WWE Smackdown move on Garnet Hathaway, which would send them both to the penalty box. Anton Lundell would get sent to the box at 2:07 for hooking T.J. Oshie. 37 seconds into the power play, the Caps would cut the lead in half when Nicklas Backstrom would solve Sergei Bobrovsky from a small opening from the side.
However, unlike the last game, the Panthers seemed to learn how to respond to adversity.
27 seconds later, Mason Marchment would respond to Backstrom’s goal to put it back to 3-1 when he would shoot a wrister and beat Vanecek down low through his five-hole.
Marchment would play a big role in another way, as he would get called for a questionable double-minor for slashing and roughing. Florida’s defense would play a perfect penalty kill, paving the way for the Panthers to build more momentum.
Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart would find a perfect 2-on-0 opportunity in front of Vanecek, and Lundell would set it home from the left side to make it 4-1. A little over two minutes later, Florida would make it 5-1 when Carter Verhaeghe would rip the puck glove side top shelf into the post and in the net.
Third Period:
Vital Vanecek was pulled at the beginning of the third for Ilya Samsonov after playing 40 minutes and saving 14 of 19 shots.
The Panthers would come out dominating this period, with multiple big hits, including a retaliation by Patric Hornqvist after he was boarded by Hathaway, who was later ejected.
The Panthers would also dominate the third in shots, outshooting them 14-2 despite not adding anymore salt to the Game 2 wound.
Notes:
It was just Florida’s sixth win in its last 19 home playoff games going back to 1996, and matched the biggest victory margin in franchise playoff history. Florida beat Boston 6-2 in Game 2 of the first round of the 1996 playoffs, the season in which the Panthers went to the Stanley Cup final, and won 5-1 in Pittsburgh later that season in the East finals.
Next Up:
This series will move to the nation’s capital for two games on Saturday and Monday. Saturday’s game is a 12:30 PM puck-drop from Capital One Arena.