SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The bounce-back game that the Florida Panthers needed started, perhaps fittingly, with a puck that took a fortuitous bounce.
A burst here. A burst there. And just like that, series tied.
Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe each had a goal and an assist and the Panthers beat the Washington Capitals 5-1 on Thursday night to even the Eastern Conference first-round series at a game apiece.
“It’s nice. It’s nice to win. That’s all we want to do,” Barkov said. “Obviously, we didn’t play the right way in the first game. This game, we kept building and we got better as the game went on.”
Aaron Ekblad, Anton Lundell and Mason Marchment also scored for Florida, the top overall seed in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 shots.
“Bob kept us in the game, gave us a chance to win,” Barkov said.
I guess we will be spared from the multiple Ric Flair memes today.