Pothier, Morrison lift Caps | DC Pro Sports Report

The Washington Capitals snapped out of a three gaming losing streak with a big 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers tonight in Florida. D Mike Green and D Jeff Schultz left the game in the second period and did not return. Extent of their injuries are unknown at this point. Capitals Panthers Hockey

Bruce Boudreau awarded Line 4 of rookie Mathieu Perreault, Tyler Sloan and Chris Clark for a good performance on Wednesday by keeping them in tact tonight. The line responded with a nice multiple puck pass play that ended with a Tyler Sloan goal to give the Caps a 1-0 lead in the first period. It was Sloan???s second goal in as many nights. Sloan???s goal 2 night ago was his first since 2008 and he re-fired up tonight. The first period ended with a 1-0 Caps lead. Caps and Panthers tied in shots on goal at 12-12.

Brendan Morrison scored half way through the second period to put the Capitals up 2-0. It was Morrison???s 5th goal of the year. Brooks Laich and Brian Pothier assisted the goal. Caps out shot Panther 10-8 in the second period.

Through the first two period, the Caps did not have any penalties, while Panthers had 1. Florida added a penalty in the third period that led to a booming shot from Brian Pothier on a Nicklas Backstrom pass that went right through Florida goalie Tomas Vokoun to put the Caps up 3-1.

Things suddenly turned slightly interesting yet again, as the Capitals committed three penalties near the half way mark of the final period, including a 5 minute major on D Shaone Morrisonn that led to his ejection from the game. The Caps played pretty much the last 9 minutes rotating just 4 defensemen. Nathan Horton scored on a power play goal on a Brendan Morrison penalty to pull the Panthers to within 2, at 3-1. Two minutes later, Morrisonn made an illegal hit along the board that led to a 5 minute major and his immediate ejection. The Caps penalty killers did an absolutely phenomenal job, not allowing a single shot on goal during the entire 5 minute penalty. Brendan Morrisonn scored his 2nd goal of the night to ice the game for the Caps in the Panthers empty net with 50 ticks left. Caps win 4-1.

Jose Theodore had a very nice game tonight, stopping 28 of 29 shots to improve his record to 4-2. Theo made some critical saves to save the Caps defense tonight. He was on his game.

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