The Capitals hosted the defending champion Florida Panthers in a battle of two of the top teams in the East. Up by one late in regulation, Washington added two empty-net goals for the 6-3 victory.
The Caps struck first in the opening period when Andrew Mangiapane ripped the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky for his 11th goal of the season.
Then with the score tied at 1-1 in the middle frame, Washington was on the penalty kill but Tom Wilson scored on a 2-on-1 with Aliaksei Protas to make it 2-1. This was Wilson’s 10th career shorthanded goal.
The score was then tied at 2-2 entering the third period, as Lars Eller and Nic Dowd added a couple tallies to give the Caps a 4-2 lead. Dowd’s goal was scored, which turned out to be the game-winner, happened on a delayed penalty. He also had two assists on the night.
After a Matthew Tkachuk tally cut the deficit to one, the Panthers had multiple opportunities late in regulation to tie the game. However, the Capitals responded with two empty-netters, including one scored by Protas with 1:39 left, and one by Alex Ovechkin with 0.1 left to beat the buzzer.
Ovechkin’s empty-net goal now gives him 25 on the season, as well as No. 878 on his career, making him 17 goals away from passing Wayne Gretzky.
