Junior Capitals Tame Panthers

The Washington Junior Capitals built a lead in the first period, and then held on to defeat to Florida Junior Panthers 3-2 on Day 51. The two points moves Washington to 9-14-1 for the season. The game was marred by two fights and two ejections.

The Capitals struck quickly, scoring a pair of goals in the first 7:38. Patrick O'Sullivan scored first at 2:59 from Maxim Orlov and Sean Bergenheim. Sean Kotary then made it 2-0 when he netted from Zbynek Novak and Igor Shadulov at 7:38. After penalties to both teams, Washington extended the lead to 3-0 on Mikhail Kuleshov's goal from Ryan MacMurchy and Greg Mauldin at 19:04. Florida finally got on the board just nine seconds after Kuleshov's tally. Radulov was the scorer from Southern and Stonkus.

The second period started with a bang as Shadulov dropped the gloves with Florida's Enstrom at 4:50. The fight finished as a draw, but it did spark both teams. Washington peppered the Florida goal with shots, but the Panthers got the goal as Bochenski put it in the back of the net from Southern and Enstrom at 11:10. Just as the period began with a fight, Mauldin squared off with Enstrom to end the period. The result was a draw, but Enstom was ejected for his second major penalty.

Neither team scored in the final period as the Capitals killed off one penalty to preserve the win.

Daniel Taylor stopped 21 shots to earn the win and improve to 3-4-0. Lukas Mensator made 32 saves in the loss for Florida.