Tkachuk, Panthers keep pace in wild card race with win against Capitals

WASHINGTON -- Matthew Tkachuk scored his 40th goal of the season with one minute left in the third period to break a tie, and the Florida Panthers kept pace in the Eastern Conference wild card race with a 4-2 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Saturday.

Tkachuk, who also had two assists, scored when his shot from the boards outside the left face-off circle sailed past Washington goalie Charlie Lindgren to give Florida a 3-2 lead. Tkachuk thought his shot might have deflected off teammate Aleksander Barkov or Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary in front.
"I knew there wasn't much time on the clock, so I just decided no such thing as a bad shot there, I guess, and it worked out," Tkachuk said.

Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist, and Alex Lyon made 22 saves for the Panthers (42-31-7), who extended season-high winning streak to six games.
They remained tied with the New York Islanders for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the East and one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Islanders won 4-0 against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, and the Penguins defeated the Detroit Red Wings 5-1.
Each has two games remaining.
"We have to keep it going," Tkachuk said. "Teams around us are winning and fortunately for us, we kind of control our destiny here. So, we've just got to keep winning here. We all want to make it in so bad, so we're just doing whatever it takes right now to make sure that happens."

Tom Wilson had a goal and an assist, and Dylan Strome scored for the Capitals (34-36-9), who have lost six in a row (0-5-1). Lindgren made 33 saves.
"It's unfortunate the way it ended," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. "I thought the guys played hard tonight. They competed hard, they were invested, they were physical, they were skating. They had to overcome a lot of things on the ice."
Tkachuk (16:28 of the first period) and Reinhart (2:28 into the second period) each had deflection goals disallowed because of high-sticks, keeping the score 0-0.
Strome gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 8:51 of the second when he lifted the rebound of Wilson's shot from the slot over Lyon's left pad.
Carter Verhaeghe tied it at 1-1 at 10:56 with a slap shot from above the right circle for his team-leading 41st goal of the season, and Aaron Ekblad gave Florida a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal, scoring on a rebound at 13:47.
Wilson tied it 2-2 at 16:05 when he drove to the net on the rush to redirect Conor Sheary's pass from the left wing over Lyon's left shoulder for his 10th goal of the season.
"I think it was a better game," Wilson said. "We probably deserved kind of a better fate, but just didn't get it done."
Tied after two periods and knowing the Penguins won earlier in the day, the Panthers stepped up the pressure in the third and outshot the Capitals 18-3. But it took until there was a minute remaining for Tkachuk to score go-ahead goal.
Reinhart scored into an empty net with 40 seconds left for the 4-2 final.
"I love that third. I love the way we came out," Reinhart said. "You know sometimes when you're playing well, it takes a while to finally break through. I think just some relief there that there's not a bounce that goes the other way so. Obviously, a big goal by [Tkachuk] to put us ahead."

Tkachuk is the third player to score 40 goals in a season for the Panthers, joining Verhaeghe and Pavel Bure (59 in 2000-01 and 58 in 1999-2000).
"He's just a gamer, right?" Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "He's so focused when he gets to the rink. He's not distracted by anything, even [when he] gets popped a couple times or there's scrums in front of the net. The puck drops, and he's back focused on the game. And you start to get the sense that you're hanging around a little bit of greatness there, right? Big game, big goal guy, and then he's done it all year."
NOTES: Washington forward Alex Ovechkin did not play because of an upper-body injury. He is day to day. The Capitals are 0-7-0 without Ovechkin this season. … Washington forwards Anthony Mantha (lower body) and T.J. Oshie (upper body) and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk (upper body) also did not play … Ekblad extended his point streak to seven games (eight points; two goals, six assists). … Barkov had two assists. … Panthers forward Sam Bennett (undisclosed) skated on his own Saturday but missed his 10th straight game. … Lyon became the first goalie with a win streak of at least six games in his first season with Florida. … Sergei Bobrovsky returned to back up Lyon after missing the previous five game because of a non-COVID illness.