Alexander Ovechkin had a goal and assist as the Washington Capitals beat the Panthers, 6-1 on Saturday to take a 2-1 lead in the opening round series against Florida.
Accompanied by a net in each of the first two games, Ovechkin recorded his first goal in the series with 10:25 left in the third period.
Conor Sheary took a loose puck along the boards and passed it to the right circle to the Russian, who scored on a one-timer.
The Capitals then took control 4-1.
Ovechkin was also part of TJ Oshie’s tying goal with 19:34 of the first period. Oshie deflected his shot to the blue line, which seemed harmless.
Marcus Johansson broke the deadlock midway through the middle period. He took advantage of the rebound from a shot by Anthony Mantha, after the disc was blocked by Ben Chiarot.
Trevor Van Riemsdyk made it 3-1 before the second intermission. Mantha opened the streak with a forecheck against Mackenzie Weegar, which led to a good chance for Nicklas Backstrom. Moments later, Johansson passed in the right circle to Van Riemsdyk, who scored with a wrist shot.
Completed by John Carlson and Garnet Hathaway for the Capitals, who benefited from 21 saves from Ilya Samsonov. Thursday, the latter blocked 17 shots aimed at him, as a comfort to Vitek Vanecek.
I’m always ready, Samsonov said. Sometimes you start in the playoffs, sometimes you go to another goalie. But you have to always be prepared. If you want to win, you need 16 wins.
Game 4 is Monday night in Washington.
We know the water is spinning fast in the playoffs, Oshie said. When one team wins a game, the other team will make adjustments and work twice as hard on the next game. That’s what they did in game two and we did it in game three.
Jonathan Huberdeau scored for the Panthers, while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped for 25 shots.
Huberdeau hit the target with a wrist shot in the third minute of the game.
For me, frustration took over, ”Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said. When you fail, it’s often because you’re not trying hard.
Maybe on twitter. But we need to find a way to get through it.
The Panthers are 0-9 in power play in the series. In the regular season, they finished 5th in the league in this regard.
Source: Radio-Canada
