Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images
The Washington Capitals fell to the Florida Panthers, 4-3 (OT) Friday night at Capital One Arena in Washington. The Panthers victory eliminate the Capitals from the postseason.
Following a scoreless first frame, the Capitals opened the scoring with a tally from Nic Dowd early in the middle frame, but the Panthers answered just three minutes later for a 1-1 tie at the second intermission.
The Capitals would retake the lead early in the final frame with a deflected goal from Nick Backstrom, but the Panthers would answer midway through the period to tie the score, 2-2.
The Panthers would grab their first lead of the game at 14:17 on a goal from Aleksander Barkov. The Capitals would tie the game with a 6-on-4 power play goal from T.J. Oshie with 60 seconds left in regulation, sending the game to overtime.
The Panthers would win it in overtime with a goal from Carter Verhaeghe.
GAME STATS
NHL box score
Natural Stat Trick
Evolving Hockey
Hockey Game Stat Cards
STARTERS
Ilya Samsonov (1-2-0, 2.68 GAA, .923 sv%) got the start in goal for the Capitals. Sergei Bobrovsky (3-2-0, 2.78 GAA, .902 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Panthers. The starting lines and pairs for the Capitals:
Scratches: Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Michal Kempny, Matt Irwin, Hunter Shepard, Joe Snively.
Injured: Carl Hagelin (eye, missed 32nd-straight game, out indefinitely), Tom Wilson (lower-body, fifth-straight game missed, day-to-day)
FIRST PERIOD
The Capitals and Panthers skated to a scoreless draw in the first frame.
The Capitals led in shot attempts 16-12, scoring chances 9-6, high-danger chances 6-1 and xGF 1.01 to .25. The Capitals long term game plan of wearing down opponents over course of a series started to show as Aaron Ekblad and Ben Chiarot left game in first period.
SECOND PERIOD
The Capitals opened the scoring with a goal from Nic Dowd (1) at 3:44 of the second period. Garnet Hathaway (x) had the lone assist.
Nic Dowd technically scored twice for good measure 😅 pic.twitter.com/c7tw26onw5
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 14, 2022
But the Panthers would answer three minutes later with a goal from Ryan Lomberg (1) at 6:13 of the middle frame. Patric Hornqvist (1) and Eetu Luostarinen (1) had the helpers.
Lomberg ties it pic.twitter.com/VyDvZ9V3UC
— Nasty Knuckles (@NastyKnuckles) May 14, 2022
The second period would end, tied 1-1. The Panthers rallied in shot attempts in the middle frame.
THIRD PERIOD
The Capitals regained the lead with a deflected goal from Nick Backstrom (2) at 1:37 of the third period. Justin Schultz (2) and Trevor van Riemsdyk (1) had the assists.
Backstrom with the nifty redirection and the Caps have the lead early in the third 🔥 pic.twitter.com/RZUmzYMobh
— NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) May 14, 2022
The Panthers would tie the score on a goal from Claude Giroux (3) at 8:18 of the third period.
The Panthers would then take their first lead of the game on a goal from Aleksander Barkov (2) at 14:17 of the third period.
The Capitals would tie the score with a 6-on-4 power play goal from T.J. Oshie (6) at 18:59 of the final frame.
What a wild sequence! #ALLCAPS tie it & stay alive for now! 3-3
Every game starts at BET99
🛑 We are responsible Gambling— Bet99 (@Bet99Sportsbook) May 14, 2022
Regulation would end with the game tied, 3-3.
OVERTIME
The Panthers would win it in overtime with a goal from Carter Verhaeghe.
SHAVINGS
- Nic Dowd gave the Caps a 1-0 lead with his first goal of the playoffs and second point this series (1g, 1a).
- Nicklas Backstrom gave the Caps a 2-1 lead with second goal of the series. Backstrom’s 38 playoff goals rank second in franchise history.
SCENES FROM THE DISTRICT
https://www.instagram.com/p/CdhId5tOX8h/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
John Carlson a -4 !!
I’m not defending him, he was bad for a good part of the season. His offense will be hard to turn our backs on. Also, I don’t want to judge any player on how they played this series until they give their health updates on breakdown day. He may have been dealing with an injury. Ovi too. He had an underwhelming series.
Ovi’s SOG and TOI were both low which means very very low for him.
I too want to see your injury article. I still question Lavi playing the heck out of the vets in the regular season after the prospects began the season so well. Especially the end of the season. I remember Nicky getting a scheduled rest day. Why weren’t more players rested?
So many ways this series could have come out differently
This series was damn close, 1-8 seed my ass. NHL needs to fix the playoffs.
I’m glad someone else noticed Carlson. He was on ice 8 of there last 8 goalsvplease trade hin
Yeah, that’s not good.
McMichael played 3:20.
Chara and Thornton should be available next year. Ilya Kovulchuk says he’s leaving his GM position and will go back to playing. Could hire him. In fact, let’s go after Jagr. See if we can get AARP as sponsor. Isn’t next year the first of the jersey ads? Plaster AARP on them.
Agreed gotta get younger. I say Keep Ovi Oshie Kuzy Willy and ship rest out.
There are quite a few youngsters that will be fighting for spots: McMichael, Protas, Leason, Snively, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Alex Alexeyev, Lucas Johansen, Tobias Geisser, etc. it’s going to be an interesting training camp.
What spots? If the vets are penciled in, fine. But if they are Sharpie’d in, then they won’t have spots to compete for. I think that first decision for this team’s direction is now when contracts are being looked at. What kind of team do Ted/Patrick/GMBM/Lavi want?
I hope we go with some youth. The way played when guys were hurt early was awsome. But don’t know if coach will go with the youngsters.
What sense does it make to move “youth” in your GM has delt 80% of your prospects for “magic beans”. Think it’s finally time for ownership to look @ all the first round exits & bounce GM! You’ve changed coach’s & no change in results it’s time to start breaking up the band because their not getting results! In the words of Al Davis “just win baby “,it’s what Caps haven’t done since Cup.
Time to Old Yeller BM!!
For me, everything is peachy because we won the Cup in 2018. I think we should’ve won around 4 but at least we enjoyed the 1.
That said, the current Caps roster and coaching are clearly nowhere near winning a Cup. It’s retool time. I love the character of the players but if the goal is to win the Cup again BMac will have to make big changes.
We have to trade some older players for draft picks. Ovie stays. Backstrom stays. Otherwise you have to find out what draft picks are available for Carlson, Kuzy, Mantha, Oshie and Wilson. I love all those guys but you can’t get top prospects for nothing.
I’m not a huge Lavi fan right now. He’s a good NHL coach but this year’s Caps played an uptempo style that was never going to work in the playoffs. You have to be a good defensive team all over the ice that’s hard to play against. Lavi doesn’t coach that style.
Congrats to the Panthers.
Ovi Backy Kuzy Willy and Oshie stay. Everyone else should be available for the right offer.
Morning after overreaction.
Carlson should’ve played his last game in DC.
Should have signed Evander Kane. Anyone in Caps organizations against that decision should be fired and those for it promoted.