Washington 4, Florida 2
When: 7:30 PM ET, Tuesday, May 3, 2022
Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise, Florida
Referees:
Eric Furlatt, Jon McIsaac
Linesmen:
Ryan Gibbons, Brad Kovachik
Attendance:
19678
By Field Level Media
T.J. Oshie scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and the Washington Capitals rallied for a 4-2 victory against the Florida Panthers in the opener of their Eastern Conference playoff series Tuesday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Tom Wilson, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Lars Eller also scored for the Capitals -- the latter an empty-netter with 49 seconds remaining. Goaltender Vitek Vanecek made 30 saves.
Sam Bennett and Claude Giroux scored for Florida, which blew a 2-1 lead entering the third period. The Presidents' Trophy winners had been 39-0-1 in the regular season when leading after two periods. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 34 of 37 shots.
Trailing 2-1, the Capitals tied it thanks to the defensive effort of Alex Ovechkin, the third-leading goal scorer in league history. Ovechkin knocked the puck away from Florida defenseman Mackenzie Weegar as he tried to skate the puck out of his own defensive zone, sending Kuznetsov in on a breakaway. Kuznetsov's shot went off the knob of Bobrovsky's stick and just under the crossbar to make it 2-2 at 8:14 of the third.
Oshie scored the go-ahead goal after Florida attempted to dump the puck into its offensive zone. Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov corraled the puck and made a quick outlet pass to Nicklas Backstrom on the left wing. Backstrom reached the top of the left faceoff circle before finding Oshie skating toward the net, and he tipped Backstrom's pass between Bobrovsky's glove and body.
The Capitals opened the scoring at 3:47 of the first period, just before a power play was about to expire, as Wilson knocked home a rebound of Anthony Mantha's slap shot from just above the right faceoff circle.
The Panthers tied the score on a three-on-two rush at 17:55 of the period. Bennett carried the puck over the blue line and beat Vanecek with a wrist shot from between the top of the faceoff circles.
Florida took the lead 43 seconds into the second as Giroux won a faceoff, then charged to the net and scored on a rebound of Brandon Montour's slap shot from the top of the right circle.
Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday night in Florida.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Washington |
|
Florida |
|
Lars Eller 1 |
Points |
Sam Bennett 1 |
|
Lars Eller 1 |
Goals |
Sam Bennett 1 |
|
Nicklas Backstrom 1 |
Assists |
Radko Gudas 1 |
|
Tom Wilson 1 |
Power Play Goals |
N/A |
|
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
|
Vitek Vanecek .938 |
Save Percentage |
Sergei Bobrovsky .919 |
|
Vitek Vanecek 30 |
Saves |
Sergei Bobrovsky 34 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
| Washington
|
38 |
4 |
1-3 |
2-2 |
8 |
25 |
| Florida
|
32 |
2 |
0-2 |
2-3 |
10 |
28 |
Upcoming Games
-
Florida will play their next game at home against Washington. The Panthers have a W/L % of .741 after a win and .625 after a loss.
-
Washington will play their next game on the road against Florida. The Capitals have a W/L % of .489 after a win and .595 after a loss.
For more information, contact us