They played 13 minutes, 54 seconds with an extra man on the ice. But it was still not enough for the Capitals.
Facing one of the Eastern Conference’s worst teams, that impotent power play – scoreless in eight attempts – proved costly in a 3-0 loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday night at Verizon Center.
Stephen Weiss scored a goal with just one second left in the second period and the Panthers kept Washington at bay in the third to hold on for the victory.
It was Florida’s first win over the Caps since the final game of the 2008-09 season. Washington swept all six games of the season series in 2009-10. It is also the Caps’ first four-game losing streak of the season.
| Caps notes |
| » Washington has lost four games in a row and dropped to 18-9-3. The Caps — stuck on 39 points — fell to third place overall in the Eastern Conference. |
| » The Caps surpassed their previous season high for power-play chances with eight. They had seven Nov. 20 against the Flyers, converting three. |
| » Forwards Matt Bradley and D.J. King were healthy scratches for Washington. |
“I liked the beginning of the game. I liked our energy and I liked the way we played,” said Caps forward Matt Hendricks. “We were going to the net hard. We were working hard. You don’t get that many penalties without work or effort. But the puck is not going in the net right now. We’re gripping the sticks tight and we’re getting down on ourselves.”
The Panthers received insurance goals when Weiss’ shot hit the post of goalie Semyon Varlamov and teammate Steve Bernier slammed home the rebound to make it 2-0 at 8:10 of the third. Bernier added a power-play goal with 2:34 left.
The Caps went 0-for-4 on the power play in the first period, including a full 1:53 with a 5-on-3 advantage. Florida goalie Tomas Vokoun (36 saves) steered away shots with relative ease. Washington out-shot the Panthers 18-6 in the first and finished in the midst of yet another power play – its fifth of the game. But Florida blocked seven shots alone in the first and the Caps missed the net entirely another nine times.
“We know our strengths,” said Caps forward Alex Ovechkin. “When we play simple, when we do what we have to do it works. When we play casual it doesn’t.”
Varlamov made a remarkable save during one of Washington’s first-period power plays. After a turnover by Nicklas Backstrom, the Panthers had a two-on-one with Weiss and Bernier, who fired the pass from his teammate on goal. The puck ticked off his glove and Varlamov then made an acrobatic save on the follow-up chance by Weiss, knocking the puck out of the air with his right pad. A bit lucky, but the 22-year-old Russian kept the game scoreless.
Things got worse from there, though. The Caps were 0-for-7 on the power play by the end of the second period. They did manage to kill a Florida 5-on-3 late in that period, bringing the Verizon Center crowd to life. But in the final seconds, defenseman Karl Alzner couldn’t control the puck behind his own goal. The Panthers worked it out along the far boards, put a shot on goal and then another before forward Michael Frolik found it among a pile of bodies and lifted it over a sprawled Varlamov just in time.
“You have to stay upbeat, don’t get down,” Hendricks said. “It was one goal. We had our opportunities to score as well.”
