POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Caps 6, Panthers 1

Three Dimes Down -In the mid-morning hours before Saturday afternoon's Game 3 in the Caps-Panthers playoff series, there were three important questions surrounding the Caps after their 5-1 loss in Game 2 on Thursday night in Florida: 1) Who would be in goal for the Caps in Game 3? 2) Would there be alterations to the Caps' lines after they failed to score at 5-on-5 on Thursday? 3) Would the Caps push back following a lackluster third period in Game 2?

The answers were: Ilya Samsonov, yes, and yes. And all three of those answers were a crucial part of the Caps' convincing 6-1 victory over the Panthers in Game 3, a victory that gives Washington a 2-1 advantage in the series.
For the last two seasons, Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek have shared the Washington nets, with each vying to prove that he deserves the No. 1 designation and the lion's share of the starting assignments. Each has had good stretches of starts over these past two seasons, but neither has been consistent enough to assertively nail down the No. 1 gig for his own. Samsonov was in net for 2,361 minutes this season and Vanecek for 2,317 minutes, an indication of how evenly split the netminding duties were in the regular season.
Last year at this time, Samsonov was unavailable for the start of the postseason because he was in the COVID-19 protocol for the second time in a span of just over three months; the first time he landed in protocol he missed six weeks of action. He came off his second stint of protocol to start the Caps' last three playoff games against Boston last spring, but he lost each of them.
Vanecek earned the starting nod for the playoff opener again this spring, and he was strong in a Game 1 victory, notching the first Stanley Cup win of his playoff career with 30 saves in a 4-2 win. In Game 2, Vanecek was dented for five goals on 19 shots in 40 minutes of work before Samsonov replaced him at the start of the third.
Coming in cold, Samsonov was peppered with 17 shots in 20 minutes of work, and he stopped them all. The Caps were nowhere near their best in the third period of Game 2, but Samsonov certainly was. Being at his best when the team was at its worst earned him the Game 3 start for a second straight spring, and this time it went splendidly. Samsonov made 29 saves and was the game's No. 1 star. He was at his best when the game was still tight and close, and his best save of the game - a point blank denial of Sasha Barkov midway through the second period - came in a 1-1 game, mere seconds ahead of Marcus Johansson's goal that lifted the Caps into the lead for good.
"It's huge," says Johansson of the stop on Barkov. "It was an unbelievable save. Sammy was unbelievable for us tonight. He kept us in it when we needed [him] to. That's the way we need these games to go; he makes a big save and then we go the other way and get one. There's a big difference when you're up 2-1 or you're down 2-1."
By the end of the afternoon, the capacity crowd at Capital One Arena was chanting "Sammy, Sammy," an occurrence that Samsonov confessed nearly moved him to tears afterwards. Samsonov seems to be in a better place this spring than last, and he has certainly made the most of his 80 minutes in the Washington nets in these playoffs.
"Last year was an important playoff for me, too," says Samsonov. "I more understand what's going on, how you need to get ready for playoffs."
Washington's team is good enough to win consistently if it can get even average goaltending, and Samsonov was much better than average on Saturday. There is no question as to who starts Monday's Game 4 for Washington, and if Samsonov is able to author a repeat performance against the Panthers and to catch fire like he did back in November, it could put an entirely different paint job on the Caps' postseason potential.
With Tom Wilson sidelined for Game 2 with a lower body injury, the Caps recalled Brett Leason from AHL Hershey and made alterations to three of their four lines. The shifts didn't take; the Caps weren't very effective in the offensive zone in their Game 2 loss. For Saturday's Game 3, Connor McMichael drew in and replaced Leason, but Washington also reunited the Nic Dowd line, and placed Anthony Mantha on a line with Nicklas Backstrom and Johansson.
The Backstrom line manufactured Johansson's game-winner as well as a crucial insurance strike from Trevor van Riemsdyk with 71 seconds left in the middle period. Those two goals were critical, and they ended up being the filling sandwiched between a pair of power-play strikes from T.J. Oshie in the first and Alex Ovechkin in the third.
With Caps coach Peter Laviolette able to control the matchups at home, Dowd's line had a much better game on Saturday, and that unit was rewarded with a late Garnet Hathaway goal, a nice perk for a well-played game.
Saturday's line alterations formed four trios that appear to be sustainable moving forward, if Wilson is to miss more time. When the final buzzer sounded, a dozen different Caps recorded points and six different skaters lit the lamp.
"I think we just came out harder and responded," says Johansson. "I think last game kind of missed us off a little bit. We played a good 60 minutes tonight. We had to work for it in the beginning, and we earned the win, and we earned the goals we got as well. It was just overall a good team effort."
Finally, yes, the Caps pushed back in Saturday's Game 3. They were physical throughout, and they managed to frustrate the Panthers and lure them into taking some unwise and undisciplined penalties, as Florida has now done for three straight games. With Wilson out, the Caps got a six-pack of hits from Ovechkin, Hathaway and Lars Eller, they got five from Martin Fehervary and they got four each from Oshie and John Carlson.
"If the big man is hitting - and everyone's got less games than him, less experience, less G.O.A.T.-ness - so if the big man is hitting," says Oshie of Ovechkin, "you better be hitting too. He is going to drag everyone else along with him. He wears the 'C' for a reason; he leads us into battle. And when he's going hard and he's playing physical, that just bleeds through to the rest of the team."
The Great Eight Update - Speaking of Ovechkin, here's a fun little nugget unearthed by Caps' game notes guru Tommy Chalk. With his goal in the third period of Saturday's game, Ovechkin has now scored a goal in every single playoff series in which he has ever played. Sure, he has played in 14 different playoff "seasons" and has scored in them all, making him one of only eight players in NHL history who have scored in each of their playoff "seasons."
Brendan Shanahan (19), Mark Messier (17), Wayne Gretzky (16), Sergei Fedorov (15), Luc Robitaille (15), Glenn Anderson (15) and Scott Young (14) have all scored in as many or more playoff seasons than Ovechkin, but none of them have scored in every series, as Ovechkin has.
Over his 14 playoff "seasons," Ovechkin has now scored a total of 72 playoff goals and has notched at least one in each of the 23 different playoff series in which he has appeared, an NHL record. Next closest to Ovechkin on that list is San Jose's Logan Couture, who has scored in all 20 of his playoff series in nine playoff "seasons." Next behind Couture is Boston's David Pastrnak, who has scored in all 12 of his playoff series to date.
Special Delivery - Three games into the series, the Caps have struck for four power play goals from four different players: Wilson, Backstrom, Oshie and Ovechkin. Washington's 33.3% power play success rate is tied for third best among the NHL's 16 first-round playoff combatants.
Three games into the series, the Caps have successfully snuffed out all nine Florida power play opportunities. Washington is the only one of 16 playoff teams that has yet to yield a power-play goal against in the postseason.
"Florida has done a good job of what they're doing," says Laviolette. "Our guys have done a really good job on the penalty kill, sacrificing, and they've got a dangerous group, and so it calls you to attention right away. Execution is usually the penalty kill.
"The power play has scored some goals for us, which we need. I still think there are some things that we can continue to work on and try to get better at, but certainly it's produced."
By The Numbers -Washington is the eighth team to take a 2-1 series lead over the Presidents' Trophy winners in the opening round of a best-of-seven set … Carlson led the Capitals with 23:12 in ice time … Backstrom led the Caps with five shots on net, and Backstrom and Mantha each had six shot attempts to lead the team … Nick Jensen and Dmitry Orlov each blocked three shots to lead the Caps.