The Washington Capitals were just moments from taking a commanding 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series against the Florida Panthers. Washington led 2-1 with a little more than three minutes to play.
The Capitals dominated the first 16 minutes of the third. Their dominance led to two great opportunities to seal the Game 5 on Monday that ultimately were missed.
First, Marcus Johansson got ahead of a dump pass from Dmitri Orlov on a breakaway. But, Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped Johansson at the point with a pad save.
Bobrovsky then skated off the ice to give the Panthers a man-advantage looking for the game-tying goal. A mere moments later, Capitals forward Garnet Hathaway took a shot at the empty-net. However the puck drifted outside of the goal, hitting the post.
The Capitals came up short after two cracks to put the game away. The missed opportunities left the door open for Florida, who went through it.
Sam Reinhart scored the game-tying goal with 2:04 remaining in the third period. That goal ultimately sent the game into overtime. Then nearly five minutes into the overtime, forward Carter Verhaeghe deposited the puck in the net, as bodies crashed in front of Capitals goalie Ilya Samsonov to give the Panthers the 3-2 OT win.
Washington was moments away from leaving home with a 3-1 lead. Now, the series is tied at 2-2. It may be safe to assume Bobrovsky made a series-shifting save on Johansson. There’s no panic in the Capitals, but now the series turns into a best-of-three with two games in Florida.
