Capitals Leave Florida With Split

The Washington Capitals stumbled to a 4-2 defeat against the Florida Panthers in Game 2, but the club leaves the Sunshine State with a 1-1 split in the series. Game three is tonight in Washington.

Florida jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening period and never looked back. Weiss started things off with a goal from Daze and Rathje at 7:39, before Johnsson extended the lead from Nolan and Stefan at 18:06. The Panthers outshot Washington 13-7 in the period.

The Capitals battled back in the middle stanza and controlled the play. Greg Watson got Washington on the board from Todd Warriner at 13:26 as the Caps gained a 12-5 edge in shots in the period.

Florida came out flying in the final period and two goals in the first 10:30 put the game away. Bondra netted the first from Nolan and Johnsson at 6:37, and Lehoux made it 4-1 on the power play from Daze and Krajicek. Jonathan Cheechoo scored a late goal for the Caps from Rob Blake and Zigmund Palffy at 19:03 to complete the scoring.

Manny Legace made 27 saves in the loss. Roberto Luongo stopped 23 shots to earn the win.