In Sunrise, Sergei Bobrovsky made 41 saves and the Panthers knocked off the Washington Capitals, 5-2 on Tuesday night.
“I felt good,” said Bobrovsky. Guys helped me a lot to clear the front of the net. [The Capitals] have good offensive weapons and they’ve been a good team. We respect them, and it’s a big two points.”
Florida improved to 9-6-1.
John Carlson and Dylan Strome were the Capitals strikers.
Carter Verhaeghe scored twice in the third period, once on a batted in loose puck, and the second on an empty-net strike for the 5-2 final.
The Caps dropped to 7-9-2.
“I thought we played hard in the last 40 minutes and pushed to get that win,” said Washington coach Peter Laviolette, who returned after missing two games while in NHL COVID-19 protocol. “We couldn’t seem to get ahead of the score. We couldn’t seem to get where we wanted to go.”
Alexander Barkov staked the Panthers to a 1-0 lead in the first period.
Sam Reinhart pushed the advantage to 2-0 before Strome scored his goal for the Caps.
“The first period they were just quicker than us,” Laviolette said. “A lot of that had to do with us and just fueling their transition with turnovers, but I thought we got it under control and had a chance at the game.”
In the third, Nick Cousins put the Panthers up, 3-1.
Carlson made it 3-2, but Verhaeghe ended any thoughts of a rally with his double at the end of the game.
Darcy Kuemper made 38 saves in the Washington loss.
“We spent the majority of the third period in their zone, and I think the few looks that they got they capitalized on,” Capitals defenseman Matt Irwin said. “It’s hard to chase a game, especially against a team like that.”
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