Panthers waste a major and fall 4-3 in Washington

Capitals 4, Panthers 3. Florida was handed a five-minute major in the first period, converted it once, then surrendered the middle of the game to Washington, and that's the whole loss.

Brady Tkachuk scored twice and Matthew Tkachuk assisted on all three goals. It wasn't enough in a Saturday matinee at Capital One Arena where the cats were the better team for one period and the second-best team for the other two.

How it went

Jack St. Ivany scored 2:21 in, and Brady answered 52 seconds later off a feed from his brother. At 8:55, Tom Wilson drove Sandis Vilmanis into the boards from behind after Vilmanis cleared the puck. Wilson got a boarding major and a game misconduct.

Vilmanis was helped off with what the team called an undisclosed injury and didn't return. Brady scored on the major at 10:00 for a 2-1 lead, which turned out to be the last time Florida was ahead.

Alex Tuch tied it 4:39 into the second, and Aliaksei Protas made it 3-2 at 14:55, with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Ryan Leonard assisting. Dubois finished it at 4:42 of the third.

Sam Bennett got one back with Schmid pulled and 47 seconds remaining, from Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart. That was as close as Florida would get.

Three things from Washington:

1. The power play had the game on a plate. Florida went 1-for-5, and the one came on the major. The two that really hurt arrived in the third, both on Cole Hutson minors, with the cats trailing by two and desperate for one.

When the opponent takes a five-minute penalty and then two more minors in the third period, you can't leave the building with nothing. Florida did.

2. The third period belonged to Washington. The Capitals outshot Florida 15-9 in the third. The cats delivered 31 hits to Washington's 8, and some of that is simply what happens when you're chasing the puck. Akira Schmid made 27 saves on 31 shots; he wasn't the problem, but he didn't steal one either.

3. The top guys carried a short bench. Anton Lundell was already out, day-to-day, and with Vilmanis gone nine minutes in, Maurice leaned heavily on his stars. Matthew Tkachuk played 23:55, up 8.7 minutes from Wednesday against Chicago, per NHL data, and Reinhart climbed from 18.1 minutes to 24:45.

Reinhart's assist extended his point streak to six consecutive games by our count. Carter Verhaeghe's five-game streak ended.

Ferda play of the night:

Garnet Hathaway's entire afternoon: six hits and two blocked shots in 10:08 of ice time, in a game where his team needed somebody to make the other side feel it. Nobody's putting that on a highlight reel, and that's exactly the job.

What they said

Maurice didn't have much on Vilmanis yet. The rookie will see a doctor on the road, and Maurice said "we will probably have to wait until we get him back" to have "a real good idea" of the severity.

He wouldn't address the hit itself, leaving it to the Department of Player Safety. "That's their job," Maurice said.

Pabs' read

This one stings because it was set up for Florida: a major, an early lead, and two third-period power plays when they needed one goal. The Tkachuk brothers did their part with five points between them. The rookie who produced four points on Wednesday was gone nine minutes in, and the cats never found another gear without him.

For the 21+ crowd: Washington closed as roughly a -122 favorite, seven goals cleared the 6.5 total, and Florida covered +1.5. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

Washington leads the season series 1-0, with meetings remaining on Nov. 27 in Washington and Feb. 3 in Sunrise.

Next: at Boston on Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, TD Garden, on NHL Network and Scripps. It's the second half of a road back-to-back, against the Bruins, so the response matters. Go get one back.