Florida has a solid 7-2-1 record over its past 10 games

It wasn't particularly pretty, but they don't all have to be. 

The Florida Panthers picked up a win on the road Wednesday night in Washington, erasing a third period deficit and winning in overtime 4-3. 

Florida got off to an uncharacteristically slow start, allowing the Capitals a pair of odd man rushes in the game’s first two minutes.

Ten minutes into the game, the Panthers only shot on goal came from defenseman Mike Reilly.

Both teams would score about two minutes apart midway through the first period. First it was Caps winger Anthony Mantha getting a lucky bounce when his cross-ice pass deflected off Anton Lundell and through Sergei Bobrovsky’s legs, then Oliver Ekman-Larsson unleashed a screaming wrist shot from the point that went just over Darcy Kuemper’s leg pad.

Sasha Barkov made it 2-1 Florida on a nice little cycle play by the Panthers top line, giving the road team its first lead of the night.

A pair of second period goals by the Capitals meant if Florida wanted to come away with two points, they’d have to make it another comeback.

Gus Forsling’s beautiful cross-zone pass found the tape on Evan Rodrigues’ stick for a perfect backdoor goal at the 3:33 mark of the third period.

The game would require overtime, but not much.

Sam Reinhart scored just :15 seconds into the extra frame, sending Florida to its seventh victory over its past 10 games.

Here are some thoughts and observations from Wednesday’s game in DC:

Barkov now has 3 goals and 6 points over his past four games.

It was another strong game for Panthers in the faceoff circle. They won 57% of the draws on Wednseady, led by Steven Lorentz, who went a perfect 7-for-7. Kevin Stenlund (9-of-14) and Barkov (9-of-17) were also above 50%.

Mike Reilly had a rough game for Florida in just his second appearance of the season. He finished with a minus-2 rating but did co-lead the Panthers in shot on goal, with four.

The advanced metrics for Florida’s third line of Stenlund centering Eetu Luostarinen and Nick Cousins were excellent at even strength, highlighted by the group earning four high-danger chances while giving up none, according to Natural Stat Trick. 

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