Capitals' patience pays off with comeback win in Game 1
Use third-period surge to take lead on Panthers in Eastern First Round
Washington was rewarded for its persistence in third period by rallying for 4-2 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round.
"We know we believe [in] ourselves," Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov said. "This game, of course, could give us a lot of positives, a lot of whatever. You can stay high. We have a veteran group of guys and we have great coaches. They're going to make adjustments and they're going to say the right words. We know it's going to be long series and it's going to be a hard game every game."
Kuznetsov scored on a breakaway to tie the score 2-2 at 8:14 of the third period and T.J. Oshie driving to the net to chip in a feed from Nicklas Backstrom for the go-ahead goal at 10:37. Lars Eller's empty-net goal with 49 seconds left capped the scoring for the Capitals and strengthened their belief that they can upset the Panthers, the Presidents' Trophy winners as the NHL regular-season points leader.
"We liked the game we were playing the whole night," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "And we just felt like if we stuck to it and stuck with it and played good defense that the offensive chances would keep coming and that eventually we could crack 'em."
Game 2 is at Florida on Thursday.
The Capitals have concern about forward Tom Wilson, who scored their first goal, not playing after the opening 7:47 because of a lower-body injury. But for one game at least Washington appeared to find a winning formula against Florida, which was 39-0-1 when leading after two periods during the regular season.
The Capitals trailed 2-1 after two periods despite controlling play for much of the opening 40 minutes and outshooting the Panthers 31-20. Sergei Bobrovsky was the difference-maker for the Florida, making 30 saves through two periods and yielding only a rebound goal to Wilson as a Washington power play expired 3:47 into the game.
But Vitek Vanecek held his own in net for the Capitals on his way to making 30 saves and earning his first Stanley Cup Playoff win. So instead of becoming frustrated, Washington reaffirmed its belief in what it was doing during the second intermission.
"I think the message was just to stick with our game," Oshie said. "We were generating chances. We were getting a lot of shots. 'Bob' was obviously making a bunch of big saves. They had a couple guys that made some saves on some empty-netters, so we just wanted to stay with our game.
"We didn't change one thing. Just wanted to continue with how we were playing and found a way to pop a couple."
Returning after missing the final three regular-season games with an upper-body injury, Alex Ovechkin made the key play on Kuznetsov's goal. He stepped up in the neutral zone to force a turnover by Florida defenseman MacKenzie Weegar. Kuznetsov swooped in to grab the loose puck and beat Bobrovsky with a shot that went in off the goalie's blocker.
Then, Backstrom passed the puck between Weegar's legs to Oshie, who got behind Panthers forward Claude Giroux on his drive to the net and chipped the puck past Bobrovsky.
"Typical 'Nicky' fashion," Oshie said. "Sauced it through a guy's legs and right to my tape. I just redirected it. Didn't see it go in, so [Backstrom] had to come tell me that I scored."
Washington closed out the game after that against Florida, which led the NHL with 29 comeback wins during the regular season. The Panthers also led the League by scoring 4.11 goals per game during the regular season, but the Capitals bottled up their speed for much of the game with their structured play in the neutral zone. One of the few exceptions was Sam Bennett's goal off the rush that tied the score 1-1 with 2:05 remaining in the first period.
"A lot of credit," Panthers coach Andrew Brunette said. "They played a really good road game. They did what they had to do on the road, and we made some mistakes near the end of the game. I thought actually our third [period], the first half was pretty solid, putting the game away and actually had some chances, and then we kind of self-destructed."
It was an impressive start to the series for the Capitals, but they're smart enough to know they have a lot of work left before they can win their first playoff series since winning the Stanley Cup in 2018.
"It's one game," Laviolette said. "Our guys played hard tonight. We've got to regroup tomorrow and get back to work and take a look at some things that we can do better and some things that worked for us and get ready for Game 2."
