It’s win or go home for the Washington Capitals, who take on the Florida Panthers in Game 6 of their NHL playoffs series tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET on TBS. You can make a pretty sound argument that the Panthers are lucky to still be playing hockey this season.Down 2-1 in the series and trailing late in the third period of Game 4, the Panthers watched helplessly as a shot from Garnet Hathaway sailed towards their empty net. The puck would just miss.
Two nights later, the Panthers were facing another uphill battle. Trailing 3-0 in the second period, Florida roared back thanks to a herculean effort from Carter Verhaeghe. By the end of the night, the Panthers had won, 5-3, and put together arguably their best game of the postseason – which is saying something since they trailed 3-0 at one point.New customers only. Must be 21+. AZ, CO, IA, IL, IN, LA, MI, NJ, NY, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY only. Full T&C apply.New users only, 21 or older.
Perhaps most importantly, Florida was finally able to get a game to open up. Wednesday’s Game 5 featured 71 total shots on goal, 27 high-danger scoring chances and a whopping 9.75 expected goals, easily the most in any contest so far in this series. That type of game environment significantly favors the Panthers, who led the NHL in creating high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5 during the regular season.
The general consensus was that if the Caps could slow the game down and avoid trading scoring chances with the Panthers, they could compete in this series. Washington was able to do that through the first four games, but started to wobble in Game 5. Getting back to that style is paramount for the Caps, but that will be easier said than done given the situation they now find themselves in.
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