- Photo by Anna Armstrong
The Florida Panthers traveled to the nation's capital Saturday to take on the Washington Capitals in their first game of a home-and-home series. The Cats, playing their fifth game in seven nights, were attempting to avoid fatigue. In addition, they were coming off a difficult defeat Friday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Florida jumped out to a 2-0 lead, only to see Carolina storm back and hand the Panthers a 5-3 loss. Subsequently, they fell six points behind the Hurricanes in their hunt for a playoff birth.
The Caps, winners of New Year's Day's thrilling NHL Winter Classic, lost their last game to Tampa Bay, 1-0 on a Martin St. Louis overtime goal Tuesday. Alex Ovechkin was limited in practice this week because of what is believed to be an ailing left wrist. He recently received a cortisone shot and claims he is fine.
Florida struck first at 3:49 of the first-period when David Booth snagged a puck in the right corner and sent a pass to Dmitri Kulikov at the left point. Kulikov then found a wide open Mike Santorelli parked in front of the net, who pushed the puck past Washington goalie Semyon Varlamov.
Please read the rest of the story at The Hockey Writers.
