While shots were rather hard to come by early on in Game 2, the Panthers still managed to jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Aaron Ekblad and Aleksander Barkov.
After Nicklas Backstrom snuck a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky on the power play to make it 2-1 and slice down the deficit for Washington less than three minutes into the second period, Mason Marchment, Anton Lundell and Carter Verhaeghe all lit the lamp to help the Panthers pull away.
"That definitely felt great," Marchment said. "Getting a goal in the playoffs definitely enhances the feeling when you score. It was a great play, so I was pretty excited. … That's something that we've been talking about, just grabbing the momentum and trying to hold onto it. That's big."
Calm, cool and collected between the pipes, Bobrovsky finished with 26 saves to improve his save percentage in the series to .938, while Vitek Vanecek, who backstopped the Capitals to a win in Game 1, gave up five goals on just 19 shots before being replaced by Ilya Samsonov.
Coming into the game to start the third period, Samsonov stopped all 17 shots he faced.
"Watching him, you can tell he's dialed in," Brunette said of Bobrovsky. "For me, a lot of it is his movement and how I see him in the net, if he looks big and if he looks busy. I find he's really dialed in, tight and quiet. He just seems to be on every puck. That's a really good sign."
While the Panthers don't plan to make any adjustments to their lineup heading into Game 3, the Capitals do have a couple of things to sort out, including who their starting goaltender will be.
After missing Game 2, forward Tom Wilson also remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
"We're just working through the game from last night and we're going to evaluate everything, the way the game was played and what we need in the lineup and what we'll do, and certainly goaltending is a part of that," Washington head coach Peter Laviolette said on Friday.
While 13 different Panthers have cracked the scoresheet through the first two games of the series, Verhaeghe leads the team in scoring with three points (one goal, two assists). For the Capitals, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin have each recorded at team-high two points.
Although he's dished out two assists and fired off nine shots on goal, Ovechkin, who finished fourth in the NHL during the regular season with 50 goals, has yet to touch twine in the series.
"You don't shut him down, you just try and contain him," Brunette said of Ovechkin, who missed the final three games of the season with an upper-body injury. "I think we've done a pretty good job of it. I don't' know if he's at 100 percent or not, but we know he'll be amped to play at home."
Owning an impressive 24-11-6 record away from home during the regular season, Florida's 54 road points were tied with Carolina and Calgary for second in NHL behind Washington's 56. As for the Capitals, they posted a 19-16-6 record at home during the regular season.
"We've been a good road team," Brunette said. "I think we've grown quite a bit this year on the road."
