Caps Finish Florida Trip vs. Panthers

November 4 vs. Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena
Time:7:00 p.m.
TV:NBCSW
Radio: Capitals Radio 24/7, 106.7 FAN
Washington Capitals (5-1-3)
Florida Panthers (8-0-1)

The Caps conclude their two-game journey to Florida on Thursday night in Sunrise when they face the Florida Panthers for the first of three times this month. Washington's trip started with a 3-2 loss to the Lightning in Tampa on Monday, a setback that ended the Caps' season-opening run of games with a point at eight.
Brett Leason scored the game's first goal - his first in the NHL - at 1:13 of the first period on Monday in Tampa, and the Capitals were able to nurse that slim lead to the first intermission. Although they played one of their better games of the young season for the full 60 minutes, the Caps weren't able to solve Lightning netminder Andrej Vasilevskiy at 5-on-5, and three unanswered Tampa Bay goals were ultimately too much to overcome.
After enjoying an off day in South Florida on Tuesday, the Caps were back at work on Wednesday afternoon, conducting a spirited practice session at Panthers Ice Den. Center Nic Dowd, absent from the Washington lineup in three of the last four games, was a full participant in Wednesday's practice and he believes he will be good to go on Thursday night against the Panthers.
"It was a good day to get a full practice in," says Dowd. "I tweaked a little something last Friday [at morning skate prior to the game against Arizona]. I just wasn't feeling that great, came back a little too early. I'm feeling good and it will be good to get back in.

If Dowd does return to play in that game, the Caps will need to make a corresponding roster move. When they placed Dowd on Injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 27, the Caps recalled center Aliaksei Protas from AHL Hershey. Protas made his NHL debut on Monday night against the Lightning, but he was used sparingly, logging just 3:53 over seven shifts on the night.
"We'll see how he does, see how he is, and we'll go from there," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of Dowd. "He's day-to-day, but he's possible [for Thursday]. He's in his regular [practice] jersey, so he practiced on a line and he wasn't held out of anything. So we'll find out exactly what's going on and we'll make a decision for [Thursday],"
Although Monday's game in Tampa marked the first time this season the Caps weren't able to earn at least a point this season, Washington was generally pleased with the way it played against the Lightning. Now it will seek to replicate that effort with better results before heading back home for a two-game homestand.
"We're going to need a really sharp game," says Laviolette. "We've got a loss in the column now and we've got some overtime losses, but I haven't been disappointed with the effort.
"There are things that definitely - from an execution standpoint - could be better, but the first thing that has to come [Thursday] is effort. And from there, we've got to execute whatever we're doing, whether it's power play or systems or 5-on-5 or structure, whatever. But we're going to need to compete. I've been happy with it, and if we can continue that, we look to give them a loss and get a win and go home."

Florida has been idle since Saturday when it suffered its first loss of the season, a 3-2 shootout setback to the Bruins in Boston. The Panthers were finishing a back-to-back set in that contest against the B's; they eked out a 3-2 overtime victory over the Red Wings in Detroit a night earlier in the head coaching debut of interim bench boss Andrew Brunette.
Brunette took over the reins in Florida after Joel Quenneville's sudden resignation last week. Brunette played more than 1,100 games in the league in a lengthy career that started with Washington in 1995-96, and he'll be making his home debut as Florida's interim bench boss on Thursday against the Caps.
The Panthers were 7-0-0 when Quenneville - a three-time Stanley Cup champion at his previous coaching stop - walked away following an investigation into a sexual assault of one of his players by one of his staff members in 2010, just prior to the first of those three Cup titles.
Since his 16-year playing career ended in Chicago under Quenneville in 2011-12, Brunette has served as an assistant general manager and in the player development department with Minnesota and he has also been an assistant coach in Minnesota and Florida.
"I watched them play one game," says Laviolette of the Panthers. "I was just at home and I watched them play the Boston team [last Saturday] and they compete. They work, they've got four lines and six defensemen, and they've got good goaltending, but they compete. So you've got to make sure that that's the first ingredient you're bringing to the table."