Stealing 2 Points In Sunrise

Capitals 6, Panthers 5 OT
Game Summary - Event Summary

The Washington Capitals showed tremendous grit and determination in Sunrise Florida as they came from behind not once, not twice, but three times including scoring 3 straight goals to overcome a two goal deficit. They beat the Florida Panthers 6-5 in overtime to complete the comeback.

Just some quick thoughts on the Caps' first road win of the season.

- Mike Ribeiro is worth his weight in gold. Re sign him now! Ribeiro scored a goal and had two assists to give him a three point game. He scored the first goal of the game on the power play, and has been the most consistent offensive threat the Caps have had this season.

- Alex Ovechkin had one of his Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde games. But his compete level has upped in the last two games. After his brief skirmish with Kris Versteeg, Ovi was flying. He misplayed the puck from time to time. But is wrister that tied the game was a thing of beauty. He now has a point streak stretched to five games and has a goal in the last three. He received the game's third star.

- He might not be scoring goals, but Nick Backstrom is starting to heat up. The Caps' go to centerman took 29 draws against the Panthers and won 19. He had two of the biggest assists of the night. A secondary helper on Ovechkin's game tying goal and a pretty pass to spring Troy Brouwer loose on Scott Clemmensen for the overtime winner.

- Caps distribution of goal scoring was evident again tonight. Six different goal scorers included (in order when they scored) Ribeiro, Carl Alzner, Matt Hendricks, Eric Fehr, Ovechkin and Brouwer.

- At times the Caps were sloppy in their own zone. It led to a lot of Panther scoring chances. Credit the Panthers for jumping on the Caps' defense and a strong forecheck that had the Caps reeling in their own zone at times. A couple of lucky bounces seem to do the Caps in from time to time. For them to not only mentally over come the bad play and bad bounces is a testament to this team's mental toughness to bear down, get the goals they needed to win and take two points home. It wasn't pretty, but it will do.

- The Caps penalty kill stifled the number 12th PP unit coming into this game. In fact, special teams was a huge factor in this one for the Caps. The penalty kill was a perfect 5 for 5, and they were 2 for 3 on the power play which the second PP was Ovechkin's game tying tally.

The Capitals will have to shore up some of their defensive zone play against their next opponent Tampa Bay. The Lightning have been known to give the Caps fits and breakdowns in their own zone will make for a long game Thursday night.