The Florida Panthers returned back home to Sunrise on Thursday coming off an overtime win in game 4. The Panthers were looking to win in front of their home crowd to take the series lead against the Washington Capitals. Florida did just that, scoring five straight unanswered goals after an early 3-0 deficit.
Recap
TJ Oshie opened the scoring in this game early in the first on a power play. This would be the only goal scored in the first period but the Caps weren’t done there.
Early in the second, Justin Schultz scored to put the Caps up 2-0. A minute later, TJ Oshie scored his second of the game to give the Caps a 3-0 lead. However, it was all Panthers for the rest of the game. Carter Verhaeghe opened the scoring for Florida, cutting the deficit to two. Later in the frame, Patric Hornqvist scored to cut the Capitals lead to one. Towards the end of the second frame, Sam Reinhart scored to tie the game at three.
Florida went into the third period looking to steal the lead. Early in the period, Florida did just that as Verhaeghe scored his second of the game on a speedy cut to the net. Later in the frame, veteran Claude Giroux scored to put the Cats up 5-3. This sealed the win for Florida.
In a losing effort, Ilya Samsonov went 33-38 with a save percentage of .868%. Sergei Bobrovsky of the Panthers went 30-33 with a percentage of .909.
Up Next
These two teams will meet again in Washington for game 6 action.