- Capitals rally from a 2-1 deficit to beat the Panthers 4-3
- Brady Tkachuk scores twice in the first period and Matthew Tkachuk adds three assists
- Read below for Jack St. Ivany’s first NHL goal and the Hometown Remix debut
The Capitals needed three straight goals to get past Brady Tkachuk and the Panthers on Saturday.
Washington beat Florida 4-3 at Capital One Arena after the Tkachuk brothers combined for four points in the first period alone. Brady scored twice in the opening 20 minutes, tying it 1-1 at 3:13 and putting the Panthers up 2-1 on a power play at 10:00. Matthew set up both goals and finished the night with three assists.
Watch Brady’s second goal of the first period:
That power play came courtesy of Tom Wilson, who drew a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding Sandis Vilmanis. Vilmanis left the game at 8:55 and did not return. We covered the Wilson ejection earlier Saturday.
Jack St. Ivany had given Washington the early lead. The 27-year-old defenseman scored his first NHL goal at 2:21 of the first, in his 62nd game. He picked off Akira Schmid’s clearing attempt along the left wall, and his shot bounced up and over Schmid’s left shoulder.
Alex Tuch pulled the Capitals even at 2-2 at 4:39 of the second. He stole the puck from Sam Bennett at center ice, skated in and snapped it home from the right circle for his 11th goal of the season.
Check out the goal here:
Aliaksei Protas put Washington in front 3-2 at 14:55, taking a cross-slot pass from Pierre-Luc Dubois and scoring from the low slot past a diving Schmid.
Dubois made it 4-2 at 4:42 of the third, reaching around Schmid to slide in a feed from Protas. Take a look at the finish:
Bennett cut it to 4-3 at 19:13 by redirecting a Matthew Tkachuk pass with Schmid pulled for the extra attacker, but Logan Thompson held on. He finished with 27 saves, and Schmid stopped 27 for Florida.
The Capitals also debuted their Hometown Remix jerseys in the win. The design brings back the Capitol dome after a few years of the screaming eagle.
Washington moves to 9-6-0 and snaps a two-game losing streak. Florida falls to 9-6-2 and opens a three-game road trip at the Bruins on Sunday.
