Reinhart's OT goal lifts Panthers past Capitals

WASHINGTON -- Sam Reinhart scored 15 seconds into overtime to give the Florida Panthers a 4-3 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.

Reinhart received a cross-ice pass off the boards from Aleksander Barkov, warded off Evgeny Kuznetsov as he skated toward the net, and lifted a shot over the glove of goalie Darcy Kuemper.

“[Evan Rodrigues] made a good play to retrieve the puck and got it up to ‘Barky,’ and he noticed as well that we just kind of had a little break, and he did a good job putting it hard enough for me to skate into it there,” Reinhart said.

Reinhart, Barkov, Rodrigues and Oliver Ekman-Larsson each had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (7-4-1), who have won two straight and seven of their past 10 (7-2-1). Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves.

"We've had some great starts in games, we've got some comeback wins, so we know the ability is there,” Rodrigues said. “I think now it's just continuing to do the small things over and over again, and that's how you kind of put together a full 60 (minutes). There's definitely no quit in this team, and no matter what the score is we're not going to roll over. It was a big win tonight.”

Anthony Mantha scored twice, Connor McMichael had a goal and an assist, and Aliaksei Protas had two assists for the Capitals (5-4-2), who have lost two of three (1-1-1). Kuemper made 21 saves.

“We made some egregious mistakes with the puck that, against a team like them, you just can’t make,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “We just made some really mind-boggling plays with the puck, decisions with the puck, positional stuff in the second and third periods.”

The Capitals took a 1-0 lead at 10:42 of the first period when Mantha’s cross-ice pass for Protas deflected off the stick of Panthers forward Anton Lundell and went five-hole on Bobrovsky.

Ekman-Larsson tied it 1-1 at 12:49, receiving a pass from Matthew Tkachuk above the right circle and scoring with a wrist shot under the right arm of Kuemper.

Barkov gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead at 16:45 with a one-timer from the left circle off a backhand pass from Reinhart from along the goal line.

McMichael tied it 2-2 with a short-handed goal at 6:13 of the second period. He got behind the defense at the blue line and took a pass from Protas before beating Bobrovsky over his left pad with a backhand.

“That’s a great goal from him because I didn’t really see him,” Protas said. “I was focused more on protection because the [penalty kill] is more about just get the puck deep. I heard him, he talked to me, so I just moved it there and everything else is him. A great play.”

The Capitals appeared to take a 3-2 lead at 11:34 when Sonny Milano knocked in a rebound during a power play, but Florida challenged the play for offside, and the call was reversed after a video review.

Mantha did make it 3-2 at 15:51, scoring from the right circle on a 2-on-1 with McMichael, who started the rush by intercepting a pass from Panthers defenseman Mike Reilly in the defensive zone.

“[Mantha] beat the backchecker and I just had to slide it over to him, and he had a good finish,” McMichael said.

Rodrigues tied it 3-3 at 3:33 of the third period when he tapped in a backdoor pass from Gustav Forsling at the right post.

“We've actually been trying that pretty much the whole year, trying to make that play happen,” Rodrigues said. “There are teams that it has been open against. He makes a great play. A big goal, and it helped us get the win.”

NOTES: Reinhart passed Aaron Ekblad (16 seconds in a 3-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 16, 2022) for the fastest overtime goal in Panthers history. … Mantha left at 12:13 of the third period after a shot by Kuznetsov deflected up and hit him on the left side of his head. Carbery said Mantha was still being evaluated after the game. ... Barkov extended his point streak to 11 games (six goals, 13 assists) against the Capitals dating to Feb. 22, 2018. It is the longest point streak against a single opponent in Panthers history. … Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has gone three straight games without a point and hasn't scored a goal in five straight.