Capitals’ bumpy road trip continues with a

SUNRISE, Fla. — The Washington Capitals threw everything they had at Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky late in the third period Tuesday night as the reeling visitors desperately sought the tying goal.Despite racking up 22 shots on goal in the period, the Capitals could never find it. The Panthers added an insurance goal with three minutes to go, then hit the empty net for a 5-2 victory over sputtering Washington in the first meeting of teams that clashed in the playoffs last season.“I think we had our chances to score, but a couple bad breaks and the puck ends up in the back of our net. And with the rut we are in right now, it’s kind of been the way it has been going,” said Dylan Strome, who had the Capitals’ opening goal. “We got to find a way to snap out of it and get some wins.”The power play needs to snap out of its slump, too: The Capitals went 0 for 5, including a chance with less than eight minutes left, to fall to 0 for 21 over their past four games. Not long after, Carter Verhaeghe put the Panthers up 4-2 by beating Darcy Kuemper (38 saves) in front. He set the final margin on an empty-netter with 1:24 left.The Capitals, who were hoping to shake off Sunday’s disastrous 6-3 loss at Tampa Bay, instead continued to tumble down the Metropolitan Division standings. Washington (7-9-2) has just two wins in its past nine games (2-5-2), and the schedule isn’t getting any easier. The final matchup of Washington’s three-game trip is Thursday at St. Louis before it hosts defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado on Saturday night at Capital One Arena.“We just got to stay with it,” defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk said. “This is the time of year where you can’t let it get away from you. … Hopefully [you can] hit a little hot patch and get your momentum rolling, but you can’t get too negative just after a couple losses — because that is when things can go south.”Washington fell into a 2-0 hole against Florida (9-6-1) before Strome gave the Capitals life at 15:04 of the second, cutting the Panthers’ lead in half when he snapped a long-range shot past Bobrovsky (41 saves) during four-on-four play.Nick Cousins put the Panthers back up by two when he curled a shot around Kuemper’s right pad off a feed from Gustav Forsling early in the third. Capitals defenseman John Carlson trimmed the Florida lead back to one goal with a redirection in front (off an impressive feed from defenseman Erik Gustafsson) with 8:45 left, but Washington couldn’t solve Bobrovsky again — and took another painful loss to the Panthers following last season’s first-round playoff exit.Tuesday was the first game back for Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette, who had missed the previous two while in the NHL’s coronavirus protocols. He tested negative Monday and Tuesday morning and then flew to Florida on Tuesday afternoon. He rejoined the team shortly before the team buses arrived at FLA Live Arena. Assistant Kevin McCarthy had filled in as Washington’s coach in his absence.“We got to find a way to score goals,” Laviolette said. “The power play has to get us one; five-on-five has to get us another one. I thought we played hard in the last 40 minutes and pushed to get that win, but we couldn’t seem to get ahead of the score.”After the Capitals had some early chances, the Panthers dominated the rest of the first period. After a sloppy giveaway by Washington, Aleksander Barkov gave Florida the lead at 5:45 with a shot from above the circles that eluded Kuemper. The Panthers outshot the Capitals 22-9 in the period.Sam Reinhart doubled the Panthers’ lead early in the second when, while on his backhand, he impressively swatted the puck out of the air and into the net on the power play. The Capitals asked for the goal to be waved off, arguing the puck was played with a high stick — to no avail. Washington also disagreed with center Lars Eller being penalized for an illegal check to the head of Verhaeghe that had sent the Panthers to that power play in the first place.Here is what else to know about the Capitals’ loss:Five times Tuesday night, the Capitals went on the man advantage with a chance to tie the score or cut Florida’s lead to one. On all five occasions, Washington failed to light the lamp.The Capitals looked strong on their first two attempts, putting 11 shots on goal, but they recorded just one on the next two to close the second period. Their final chance of the night was their best, but the Panthers’ penalty kill was better.Forward Joe Snively entered the lineup Tuesday for his first game since Nov. 3 at Detroit. Playing in his fifth game of the season, he replaced Connor McMichael as the Capitals worked to find the best combinations amid their many injuries and the three-game suspension to Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who will be eligible to return Saturday.Snively started on the third line with Eller and Anthony Mantha. The line produced a handful of quality chances, but the Capitals could not convert. Mantha had what looked to be a sure goal less than 20 seconds into the game — but he hit the post after Bobrovsky got a piece of the shot.Snively recorded his first point of the season in the second period, when he had the primary assist on Strome’s goal. He ultimately played 11:09 and put two shots on goal.The Capitals tried winger Sonny Milano on the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov in hopes that it would spark more production. But the line struggled to find chemistry, and Milano eventually was demoted to the third line.Washington put Aliaksei Protas on the top line to start the third period. Milano, who finished the game skating with Eller and Mantha, finished with 13:06 of ice time and put three shots on goal.
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