RECAP: Panthers' playoff push gets a big boost with win over Capitals

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Florida Panthers received a big boost in their push toward the playoffs with a 6-3 win over the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Thursday.
"Everyone played awesome," forward Colin White said. "We knew how big of a game this was. It felt like a playoff game out there. I thought we got our best effort. Everyone worked so hard."

While it wasn't actually a playoff game, the stakes were certainly high.
By picking up two points in regulation, the Panthers pulled even with the Capitals for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, although Washington has played one fewer game.
"I thought last month we had to get it to four or five [points], and this month we have to get it to even," head coach Paul Maurice said when asked about climbing back into the playoff picture. "Then we have to kill the games in hand in March. It's going to be a constant grinder right straight through. But a win like tonight, on the road with the schedule that we've had, they start to believe."
Netting the all-important first goal on the road, Gustav Forsling broke the ice for the Panthers when he took a pass from Eetu Luostarinen and snapped a wicked shot past Darcy Kuemper and into the back of the cage from near the high slot to make it 1-0 at 9:10 of the first period.
Doubling the lead for the Panthers in the second period with his first goal of the season, Marc Staal teed up a pass from Brandon Montour and blasted a slap shot from just below the blue line past Kuemper, who was the victim of a Matthew Tkachuk screen, to make it 2-0 at 1:32.
Following the goal, Florida's bench went wild.

"It felt good," Staal said. "I'm not that stressed about it or really think about it, but the boys were pumped up for me, so it was nice to get. It was nice to get one and get the momentum going."
Following a couple massive stops from Sergei Bobrovsky to keep the Capitals off the board, the Panthers padded their lead even further when White took a sweet pass from Anton Lundell, got behind Washington's defense and roofed a backhand shot past Kuemper to make it 3-0 at 7:20.
Cutting into the deficit for the Capitals, Dylan Strome re-directed a shot from T.J. Oshie to make it 3-1 at 15:51. But less than two minutes later, Aleksander Barkov flew into the zone on a 2-on-1 rush, kept the puck himself and ripped a no-look laser into the net to put Florida up 4-1 at 17:03.
"We slowed it down and watched it a whole bunch of times," Maurice said of Barkov's highlight-reel goal. "His head never checks his shoulder. He's just done that too many times to ever call it lucky. It was just incredible. A huge goal for us."
With the Capitals on a power play in the third period, Nicklas Backstrom beat Bobrovsky, who was blinded by a screen from Oshie, with a shot from just beyond the left circle to make it 4-2 at 13:04. Back on the man advantage soon after, Evgeny Kuznetsov scored to make it 4-3 at 17:28.
Stomping out that late comeback attempt for the Capitals, Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart buried empty-net goals at 18:39 and 19:45, respectively, to lock in the huge 6-3 win for the Panthers.
"We have done lots of hard work," said Bobrosky, who made 29 saves to improve to 4-1-0 in his last five starts. "It's an opportunity for us. We're excited about it and enjoy every second of it."

CATS QUOTES

"We fought like crazy in January to keep our head above water with the schedule we had. We worked really hard to kind of get us into this type of position now."- Marc Staal on the playoff push
"It felt great. I've been working really hard, and hard work pays off. It felt good to come in and contribute tonight." - Colin White on scoring in his return to the lineup
"We were cooking right out of the gate. We got out to a lead, which was good for us in a lot of ways. Mentally, you can put the last game behind you and really focus on tonight." - Paul Maurice on bouncing back from Tuesday's loss in St. Louis

CATS NOTES

• Aleksander Barkov needs one more point to achieve the eighth 50-point season of his career.
  - Carter Verhaeghe dished out two assists against the Capitals.
  - Anton Lundell led the Panthers with three points (one goal, two assists).
  - Sam Reinhart recorded the seventh 20-goal season of his career.
  - Sergei Bobrovsky went 13-for-13 against high-danger shots, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Panthers (28-24-6) will wrap up their four-game road trip with a matchup against the Nashville Predators (25-20-6) at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.