Capitals End Season With Whimper

With the season on the line in Game 6, the Washington Capitals went out with a whimper in a 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers. Florida advances to the second round of the playoffs with the 4-2 series win.

Jarrett gave the Panthers a great start when he scored his first of the playoffs from Roche at 7:06. Krajicek made it 2-0 from Parrish and Stefan at 7:59. Washington finally got on the board on Zigmund Palffy's fifth of the postseason from Patrick Marleau and Bryan Berard.

The Capitals upped the tempo in the second period, outshooting the Panthers 12-8, but Parrish scored against the run of play from Nolan and Rathje to take the wind out of Washington's sails.

Florida added a pair of goals in the third period to put the game and the series away. Bondra got the first from Weiss and Dagenais at 13:11, before Stefan netted from Krajicek and Parrish at 15:38.

Manny Legace made 18 saves in the loss. Peter Skudra stopped one shot in relief. Roberto Luongo made 27 saves to earn the win.