Washington Capitals-Florida Panthers: Florida Downs Listless Washington 5-3

  After several weeks of playing short-handed due to multiple injuries, it finally caught up to the Washington Capitals in a 5-3 loss to the Florida Panthers last night, one of the lowest scoring teams in the league, missing two of their three top scorers themselves. Washington was lethargic from the opening face-off, but managed to jump on the board first. Donald Brashear did a great job drawing a tripping penalty with tough work down low. Nicklas Backstrom made the Panthers play for the transgression by scoring his sixth goal of the season, a shot that redirected off Florida defenseman Jay Bouwmeester. Unfortunately, the Caps stopped skating after that goal, maybe surmising that one goal would be enough to stop the offensively challenged Panthers. That, obviously, was not the case. Redirected pucks would be a recurring theme for the evening. The second period was all Florida, and they got plenty of help from the depleted and inexperienced Washington blue liners. Ville Peltonen walked ... (link)