Strong Fight Gives Washington Capitals Important Win Over Florida Panthers, 4-3.

The Washington Capitals started strong and took control in the middle and down the stretch Saturday afternoon, en route to an important victory over the Florida Panthers, 4-3.

Logan Thompson bounced back with 27 saves, Alex Tuch put up his most ice time as a Capital and Jack St. Ivany scored his first career NHL goal to help propel Washington back into the win column.

"We needed a good performance today, and with the way the last couple games went, even though we felt good about our game coming out of them, they're two in the loss column," head coach Spencer Carbery said. "So to just fight through a little adversity tonight, got that out as a group against a really good team. It's a big, heavy, hard game, so it's competitive, there's tempers flaring. That's a big win for our team. Big, big win early in the season."

Entering Saturday, Washington sported a 5-5-0 record in its last 10 games after a 3-1-0 start and were looking for a strong, complete effort after falling behind early before falling short of a comeback against the Dallas Stars.

The Capitals came out with high energy like they did against Dallas, but this time struck first with Jack St. Ivany notching his first career goal 2:21 into the contest — shooting a puck off the boards past Akira Schmid as he scrambled back in front of the net from behind the goal.

"It was just early in the game, so I'm trying to get something towards the net, keep the play alive," St. Ivany said. "Probably get one of those a game. I don't think I've ever had one bounce in front of me and go top corner before, but I'll take it."

The lead would be short-lived, as a Matthew Tkachuk tip-in was saved, only for Brady Tkachuk to push it past Logan Thompson to knot things back up at one goal a piece less than a minute later.

Washington got the first man advantage off a Sam Reinhart hooking penalty but struggled to maintain much possession in the offensive third. The main chance saw a Ryan Leonard shot saved and a rebound attempt ended up off the post and cleared.

The Capitals’ early pressure led to them tallying five of the first six shots on goal between both teams.

Tom Wilson checked Sandis Vilmanis from behind into the board along the left circle of the Capitals’ offensive zone, which resulted in a five-minute major and game misconduct for boarding.

"I think it got everybody together," Aliaksei Protas said. "We knew we got the big kill coming. Didn't kill 100% of it, but most of it gave us again confidence moving forward and just fight for each other."

Brady Tkachuk notched his second of the afternoon at the midway point of the opening period thanks to the five-on-four advantage. Logan Thompson made five saves, however, to limit the Panthers’ damage.

"I thought [Thompson] was really, really sharp tonight and the thing that I appreciate about LT again, first shot goes in, and he fought tonight," Carbery said. "He fought and battled, even though again it's like looks up one shot one goal against. Like 'Really, is this my luck right now?' And so what does he do? He just flips it and goes, 'Okay, I've got to dig in and make the next save, and I've got to keep fighting and keep fighting and try to whatever happens here, whether pucks go in the back of the net, whether I get a bad bounce, I'm going to keep fighting and make the next save for our group.' And I thought he did a real good job of that."

A holding call against Carter Verhaeghe gave Washington a man-advantage with 2:31 left in the opening period, but the Capitals were unable to convert.

Alex Tuch evened the score early in the second period, taking control of a puck at the blue line with two Panthers on him, drawing a penalty and then sniping it top left past Schmid.

Later in the middle period, a great passing sequence from Leonard behind the net to Dubois in front then found Aliaksei Protas on the doorstep with a generous amount of open net. His second goal of the season gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead heading into the third.

Pierre-Luc Dubois extended the Washington lead early in the final frame, dancing in front and reaching around Schmid to lay it into the net with 15:38 remaining.

Washington had a late power play with 4:01 remaining after Uvis Balinskis was assessed a minor for holding onto a stick, but the Capitals failed to convert and set up a tense finish

Sam Bennett put more pressure on in the final minute, but the Capitals staved off an equalizer to secure the victory.

"I mean you don't want to lose too many games at home, and once you lose back-to-back games, I think even when you're playing, I think pretty good hockey, not great hockey the last couple games," Tuch said. "I think we wanted to have a great game tonight, and I think that's what we did."

Washington hits the road next, returning to action Tuesday evening in Ottawa to face the Senators.