The clock was ticking toward its final minute and the Florida Panthers were at risk of wasting a dominant third period Saturday. They had already rallied once and blown one lead, and they were tied with the Washington Capitals for 19 minutes of the third period until Matthew Tkachuk, on their 17th shot of a dominant final frame, gave the Panthers the win they needed and deserved.
The superstar right wing threw a prayer at the net from way out along the left boards, dropped his jaw when he saw it sneak past past Charlie Lindgren and into the Capitals’ net, and then pumped his fist three times to celebrate. His goal with one minute left — his 40th of the season — gave Florida a 4-2 win in Washington.
“Not much time left. ... No shot’s a bad shot,” Tkachuk told Bally Sports Florida. “I don’t know how it went in, but it did.”
With two games left in the regular season, the Panthers’ longest winning streak of the season is still alive, now at six games, and has Florida (42-31-7) in control of its own postseason destiny. The Panthers remain in control of the top wild card with the win, ahead of the Islanders because of a tiebreaker and a point up on the Penguins. All three have two games left, and if the Florida wins one and just gets to overtime in another, it’ll head to the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, no matter what New York and Pittsburgh do.
For about half of the game, the nightmare scenario was unfolding. The Penguins had already won and the Islanders were ahead in their game, and the Panthers were doing just about everything they could to blow theirs. They already had three penalties and two goals disallowed for high sticks by the time the out-of-contention Capitals (34-36-9) struck first in in the middle of a then-dominant second period for Washington. Florida was teetering and threatening lose control of its postseason destiny in the final week of the season until Carter Verhaeghe does what he often does to the Capitals.
All-Star center Aleksander Barkov won an offensive-zone faceoff back to Brandon Montour, the star defensemen slid a pass to Verhaeghe out wide on the edge of the right face-off circle and the left wing hammered a game-tying goal to make it 1-1. Verhaeghe, who scored six goals and had six assists in six games against Washington in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, gave the Panthers the breakthrough they needed to rally in front of 18,573 at Capital One Arena.
The win was never straightforward for Florida, though. After Verhaeghe tied the game with 9:04 left in the second period, star defenseman Aaron Ekblad gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead when he scored on a rebound on a power play, but Washington answered just 2:18 later when Capitals right wing Tom Wilson skated uncovered through the middle of the ice to score and make it 2-2.
It was 2-2 at the second intermission, which was simultaneously not good enough for Florida because it blew a lead to a bad team and yet also somewhat encouraging considering how ugly it once was.
In both the first and second periods, the Panthers had potential go-ahead goals wiped away because of high sticks, with both Montour and Ekblad shooting too high in good scoring situations. In the first 30 minutes, Florida committed three penalties and Washington none, keeping the Panthers from being able to sustain much offense. Until Verhaeghe finally scored, the Capitals were outshooting Florida, 11-1, in the second.
The third was a total reversal. Florida lived in Washington’s end of the ice, outshooting the Capitals, 18-3, and finally getting two goals in the last minute — forward Sam Reinhart scored on an empty net — to pull out the win.
The Panthers’ playoff chances are up to 77%, according to FiveThirtyEight. It won’t be easy in the last week, though. Florida has by far the toughest schedule left — on paper, at least — of the three main wild-card contenders with two games against the Stanley Cup-contending Maple Leafs and Hurricanes.
