Panthers Vs Capitals 02/07/2009 Review

Capitals celebrate on home ice February 7, 2009.
Photo by Mitchell Layton / Getty Images

Panthers 1 - Capitals 3

The Washington Capitals increased their Southeast Division lead to 14 points by beating the second place Florida Panthers in Washington, DC last night. After one of their worst performances this season on Thursday night versus the Los Angeles Kings, the Capitals rebounded with a very respectable hard fought win.

Just 33 seconds into the game, Eric Fehr scored his sixth goal of the season, giving him five points in the last five games. David Steckel got the play started, gaining control of the puck deep in the Caps' end and sending it to Fehr. Eric sent an outlet pass to Tomas Fleischmann, who drew the two Panthers defenseman toward him going into the offensive zone before sending the puck back to Fehr. Fehr's snap shot sailed past netminder Tomas Vokoun high glove side. It took eight minutes for Florida's Keith Ballard to tie the game with a long range slap shot that got by Washington goalie Jose Theodore.

Neither team scored in the second period. For the Capitals, it was the first time in 15 periods that they failed to score at least one goal in a period. The third period started much like the first, though. Washington defenseman Mike Green got his 18th goal of the season 43 seconds into the final frame, matching his previous career high total from last season. As with most of Green's goals, this one came while on a power play. The goal increased his goal scoring streak to six straight games, with five being the former record for Caps defenseman. The league record for defenseman is seven consecutive games.

Unfortunately, the Capitals got into some serious penalty trouble toward the end of the game, starting with a Sergei Fedorov holding penalty at 14:04 into the third. With a very upset Fedorov still in the penalty box, Washington found themselves on the short side of a 5 on 3 for 1:05, when Shaone Morrisonn was dealt a five minute major plus a game misconduct after boarding Florida's Cory Stillman. Of course Stillman was hurt so bad he was back on the ice for the very next shift. The Caps' held the Panthers without a shot before Fedorov was released from the penalty box. Even while they were armed with three forwards and only one defenseman, Washington's penalty killing worked very well. There was a nervous moment when defenseman Tom Poti made a rare mistake, turning over the puck with a clearing pass that was picked off. But it was a very brief moment, as Karl Alzner (Just recalled from the AHL's Hershey Bears), David Steckel and Tom Poti cleared the front of the net.

The Panthers elected to have Vokoun out of the net in exchange for an extra skater for the last 1:48 of the game, including the final 1:47 of their power play. That didn't stop the Capitals from scoring a short handed goal at 18:47. Mike Green cleared the puck from deep in Washington's end, and it ended up in Florida's empty net for the Caps' third goal of the game. It was Green's second of the third period and 19th on the season, keeping him atop all defenseman in the league.

It seems ironic that it was Washington's D man Green putting the game away for the Capitals against the Panthers, who have the highest scoring group of defenseman in the NHL, with 36 goals amongst them. The Caps got some good goaltending from Theodore along with some honest to goodness forechecking, unlike in their defeat at the hands of the Kings on Thursday. Coach Bruce Boudreau also kept rolling the lines quickly while killing penalties, possibly putting the checking lines on the ice more often than he usually does. The Capitals will now hit the road for three games, starting with a visit to MSG in New York, NY to face the Rangers on Wednesday.