Pierre-Luc Dubois and Aliaksei Protas each recorded a goal and an assist to lead the Washington Capitals to a 4-3 victory over the Florida Panthers at Capital One Arena on Saturday.
Jack St. Ivany opened the scoring 2:21 into the first period with an unassisted snap shot for his first goal of the season. Florida quickly answered less than a minute later when Brady Tkachuk converted a snap shot off a pass from Matthew Tkachuk. Brady Tkachuk added his second goal of the afternoon at 10:00 on the power play, assisted by Matthew Tkachuk and Seth Jones, to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead heading into the intermission.
Washington took control in the second period. Alex Tuch evened the score 2-2 at 4:39 with an unassisted snap shot for his 11th goal of the season. Protas then pushed the Capitals ahead at 14:55, scoring his second goal of the season on a feed from Dubois and Ryan Leonard. Dubois extended the advantage to 4-2 at 4:42 of the third period with a wrist shot set up by Protas. Sam Bennett redirected a pass from Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart into the net at 19:13, but Florida could not find the tying goal.
Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson stopped 27 of 30 shots to secure the victory. Akira Schmid also made 27 saves on 31 shots in the loss for the Panthers. Washington held Florida to 1 goal on 5 power-play opportunities while going 0 for 3 with the man advantage.
With the win, Washington snapped a two-game slide and improved to 9-6-0 on the season. Florida moved to 9-6-2 despite Matthew Tkachuk collecting three assists in the contest.
Florida travels next to face the Boston Bruins on Sunday. Washington visits the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
