Matthew Tkachuk scored the tiebreaking goal with 60 seconds left in regulation and had two assists as the Florida Panthers beat the Washington Capitals 4-2 on Saturday night for their sixth straight win.
Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist, and Carter Verhaege and Aaron Ekblad also scored for Florida, which reclaimed the top wild card in the Eastern Conference.
The Panthers, with 91 points, moved past Pittsburgh, which beat Detroit earlier Saturday to get to 90. Florida is tied with the New York Islanders, but holds the tiebreaker over both teams, meaning a 1-0-1 finish will get the Panthers into the playoffs if the Islanders and Penguins both finish 2-0-0.
Aleksander Barkov had two assists and Alex Lyon had 22 saves for the Panthers.
Tom Wilson had a goal and an assist, and Dylan Strome also also scored for Washington, which lost its sixth straight and will miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in nine years. Charlie Lindgren stopped 33 shots.
The Capitals played with just 17 skaters for the second straight game, with Alex Ovechkin, Anthony Mantha, T.J. Oshie and Trevor van Riemsdyk out with injuries. Washington is now 0-7-0 without Ovechkin this season and has lost the last 10 games he’s missed.
After a quiet opening period and two Florida goals being waved off due to high sticks, both teams got on the board in a busy second period.
Strome opened the scoring at 8:51 of the middle period, lifting a rebound in tight past Lyon to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. It marked his third straight game with a goal and his 21st of the season.
Just over two minutes later, Verhaeghe got the Panthers on the board, firing a one-timer past Lindgren.
Ekblad then gave Florida a 2-1 lead at 13:47 of the second, scoring a power-play goal off a rebound. However, Wilson tied things up shortly after driving to the net and redirecting Conor Sheary’s feed to the front.
The Panthers tilted the ice and piled on pressure in the third, and Tkachuk gave Florida a late lead with his 40th goal of the season. Reinhart sealed the win with an empty-netter.
The offseason trade of Panthers star Jonathan Huberdeau, coming off a 115-point season, for Flames stud Matthew Tkachuk was an earth-shaking NHL move.
So, how have the two players done?
Tkachuk, who is 25 years, 119 days old, has 108 points, 111 penalty minutes and 1,572 minutes on ice, all career highs, and has scored 1.350 points per team game.
Huberdeau, who is 29 years, 309 days old, has 54 points, 34 penalty minutes and 1,282 minutes on ice, with 0.684 points per team game.
WORTH NOTING
Ovechkin (day-to-day, upper-body) has now missed just 54 games in his NHL career. ... Beck Malenstyn played in his first NHL game since breaking his finger on Nov. 1, as Washington recalled him under emergency conditions amid mounting injuries. ... Brandon Montour extended his point streak to six games and Tkachuk now has points in five straight contests.
UP NEXT
Panthers: Host Toronto on Monday night.
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