Washington, DC (Sportsbooks) - Ville Peltonen, Radek Dvorak and Gregory Campbell each had a goal and an assist, leading the
Florida Panthers to a 5-3 win over Washington and handing the Capitals their first regulation home loss of the season.
Jay Bouwmeester and Bryan McCabe also scored for the Panthers, who have registered points in five straight games, going 3-0-2 in that span. Craig Anderson made 23 saves to get the win.
"We've been really working hard on protecting the puck, keeping the puck in their zone, getting it to the net and going to the net," said Peltonen. "The hard work in practice is paying off."
Nicklas Backstrom, Tomas Fleischmann and Viktor Kozlov each posted a goal and assist for the Capitals, who lost for the sixth time in their last nine outings. The uneven Jose Theodore, who earned his 27th career shutout as the Caps defeated Montreal, 3-0, on Friday, allowed four goals on 21 shots for Washington, which is 9-1-1 at the Verizon Center.
Dvorak gave the Panthers a 4-1 lead 4:45 into the third period, but Washington put together a late rally.
Fleischmann scored on the power play with 2:58 to play in the game, 51 seconds after Kozlov had tallied, to pull the Caps to within 4-3.
But Campbell sealed the victory for Florida with an empty-net marker in the final minute.
Backstrom's power-play tally opened the scoring with 4:03 remaining in the first period, but Florida exploded for three goals in the middle stanza.
Peltonen tied the score at the 6:19 mark, giving the invigorated Finn four goals in the last six games after enduring an 18-game drought to begin the season.
The Cats then used the man advantage to build a two-goal cushion. With the crafty Alex Ovechkin in the box for goaltender interference, Bouwmeester lit the lamp 69 seconds after Peltonen found the back of the net.
McCabe tickled the twine with 7:51 left in the frame.
"They're a great transition team because they can skate," said Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau. "They get three quick ones by us and, the next thing you know, we're looking up and having a devil of a time handling the puck, shooting the puck, doing anything."
Game Notes
Ovechkin, who led the league with 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) in November and earned the NHL's First Star of the Month, collected a helper...Florida is 5-8-1 on the road this season...Both clubs finished 2-for-4 on the power play...Florida left wing David Booth, who leads the team in goals with 12, did not play because of a shoulder injury sustained in the first period of Sunday's 4-0 win over the Rangers.
