SUNRISE, Fla. _ It came down to inarguably the greatest Russian hockey player versus the greatest Czech in NHL history.
When the final buzzer sounded, Alexander Ovechkin's third-period goal trumped Jaromir Jagr's milestone 750th goal, and the Washington Capitals held onto a 4-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday at the BB&T Center.
In a matchup of defending Eastern Conference division champions, the Panthers fell to 2-1-1, while the Capitals moved to 3-0-1.
After outshooting the Capitals 14-4 in the second period while erasing a two-goal deficit, the Panthers finally committed their first penalty in the third on Keith Yandle's hook. It took three sterling saves by Roberto Luongo to thwart Nicklas Backstrom, Andre Burakovsky and Justin Williams to survive the 2-minute onslaught.
However, at 7:33, Ovechkin gobbled up a loose puck just inside the blue line for a one-time blast past a screened-out Luongo for his second goal of the season, 527th of his career and 34th in 55 games against Florida. It was his second game-winning goal of the season and 90th of his career.
A turnover by Panthers defenseman Jason Demers led to Marcus Johansson's coffin-nailing goal with 1:20 remaining.
Luongo returned to the net after a one-game absence and, after a shaky first period, notched 25 saves. Washington's Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Braden Holtby turned aside 26 shots to improve to 8-0-1 against the Panthers.
The Panthers had seemingly tied it at 2 midway through the second period on their first power-play goal of the season. However, after Reilly Smith's point-blanker was stopped by Holtby, the puck sat alone on the doorstep in plain sight.
Just then, the referee inexplicably blew the whistle and the play dead, just as a falling Colton Sceviour's backhand swipe found the back of the net. The play was briefly reviewed and it was determined the whistle came before the goal.
About six minutes later, the Panthers were given their third power play of the period, and this time no whistles, bells or horns would stop Jagr from accepting a pinpoint centering pass from Alexander Barkov before rifling in a slot-shot for his first goal in 10 games, including last season's six-game playoff series with the Islanders. The goal snapped Florida's 0-for-10 season-opening power-play drought.
Jagr's historic goal earned him an invitation into an exclusive club of three with The Great One Wayne Gretzky (894), and Mr. Hockey Gordie Howe, (801).
In a wide-open first period the Capitals scored two goals in less than two minutes to grab a quick lead, but defenseman Mike Matheson's second career NHL goal in two games cut the deficit to 2-1 after one.
The Panthers so-called second line, led by center Vincent Trocheck, had a flurry of prime scoring chances before Alex Petrovic's blast found iron. On the next shift, Matheson corralled a long rebound of defensive partner Keith Yandle's shot, and from the sideboards, flicked a softie on net that somehow eluded Holtby at 13:47. It was Yandle's first point as a Panther, and Barkov got the second helper, giving him five points in four games.
Not long after T.J. Oshie rang one off the post, Caps defenseman Nate Schmidt centered the puck to Williams, who tucked it through Luongo's short side at 8:25. It was Williams' first goal of the season and 250th of his career.
Just 1:56 later, Evgeny Kuznetsov got a slight piece of a rolling puck off the stick of Matt Niskanen that bounced over Luongo's stick. The two goals allowed matched Luongo's season total, as he gave up just two goals in his first two starts, both victories, before backup James Reimer got the nod in the 4-3 shootout loss to the Lightning on Tuesday.
