The Florida Panthers honored their title as the most productive offense of the regular season and beat the Washington Capitals 5-1 on Thursday to tie the game at 1-1 in their NHL first-round series.
The Florida team, which averaged 4.11 goals per game in the regular season and won the Presidents ’Trophy, was limited to two wins in a 4-2 loss on Tuesday.
Much of the Panthers ’success this season has been due to the production of its mainstays Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov, who were shut out at the opening of the series.
They recovered in the second encounter. Huberdeau stood with one assist while Barkov had one goal and one assist.
Vitek Vanecek stopped 13 shots in two periods before giving up for the third period. In comfort, Ilya Samsonov, who has had several starts (39) this season as Vanecek, is perfect on 17 shots.
With the win, Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
The clubs will head to Washington for the next two games in the series. They will continue the collar on Saturday afternoon.
Source: Radio-Canada
