It all seemed over for the Florida Panthers on Monday night. The momentum was on the Washington Capitals side and they had the chance to go up 3-1. Then… Carter Verhaeghe and the Comeback Cats came alive.
The Florida Panthers came back in a HUGE way, defeating the Washington Capitals 3-2 thanks to Carter Verhaeghe’s overtime goal on Monday night.
First Period:
The game started out very physical, and was pretty much dominated by the Panthers early on.
However, the Capitals would get the first dibs. At 7:01, Sam Bennett would get called for tripping, and 14 seconds into the power play, a one-timer by John Carlson would get tipped in off of TJ Oshie’s shin pad.
The Panthers would answer back, however, tying the game later on in the period on some 4-on-4 action when Aaron Ekblad would set up Carter Verhaeghe on an odd man rush, who would bury it past Samsonov’s five hole.
Second Period:
The second period was very much dominated by the Panthers, as they outshot the Caps 12-4.
The Panthers would have three chances on the power play, however, they would not be able to connect on any of them.
Third Period:
One of the key points of this game four came at 9:25 in the third. There was a controversial hit made by TJ Oshie on Sam Bennett, sending Bennett flying to the ice with a clear hit to his head. There was no penalty called for the hit, which Panthers coach Andrew Brunette did not like.
To add salt to the wound, Washington would take a 2-1 lead right after the hit when Alexander Ovechkin would set up Evgeny Kuznetsov for an eagle-style breakaway goal, beating Bobrovsky from under the pad.
Bobrovsky would get pulled with 3:24 remaining, and it would be 6-on-5 for the remainder of the game, right? Wrong. The turning point of the game is when Garnet Hathaway missed an empty netter wide. A minute after that, Sam Reinhart got the tying goal when he would knock the bouncing puck down, then would snap the post and go in.
Overtime:
On the second shot of overtime, the Panthers would win it when Carter Verhaeghe received his own rebound and put it home from the top corner.
The Capitals challenged it for goalie interference, but ultimately, the goal was pretty clear. TIE SERIES BABYYYY!!!
Next Up:
With the series tied at four apiece, both Washington and Florida will travel back to Sunrise, Florida for Game 5 action.