FLORIDA PANTHERS vs. WASHINGTON CAPITALS
GAME 2
MAY 5, 2022
FLA Live Arena – Sunrise, Fla.
| FLORIDA PANTHERS | WASHINGTON CAPITALS |
| 5 | 1 |
PANTHERS POSTGAME QUOTES
Forward Aleksander Barkov
On Florida’s play tonight:
“It’s nice to win. That’s all we want to do…This game we kept building. We got better once the game went on. Bob [Sergei Bobrovsky] kept us in the game, gave us a chance to win and we kept building there as the game went on. Now the series is even and we are ready to go.”
On the return of Aaron Ekblad:
“It was great to get a goa from him. He is a true warrior, he battles. Last year, he was out for a long time and now he comes back and plays the way he has been playing. He has been huge for us and I really like seeing him doing that.”
On the play of Jonathan Huberdeau:
“He’s an unbelievable player. You’ve just got to be ready all the time when he has the puck, he’s going to find you.”
Forward Anton Lundell
On scoring first career playoff goal:
“It’s really great. First win, also. That’s even bigger. We wanted a good start today. We know the last game wasn’t our best, but today we could have played even better. It was a good game and we just need to keep going.”
On looking to Game 3:
“It’s going to be different to play there, they’ve got the fans on their side but we just need to play as a team, play together and try to enjoy the game.”Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky
On Florida tying the series tonight:
“Yeah, it’s a good win for us—back in the series. It’s great. It’s fun hockey, fun to be there, fun to compete with your teammates, shoulder to shoulder, and go through the things. So, it was a great game tonight, and we are happy with the win.”
On his confidence:
“I feel good. I had a good couple of games before getting in the playoffs, so I felt good. I see the puck well, I track the puck well. I try to do my best to give the guys the chance to win.”
Interim Head Coach Andrew Brunette
On tonight’s victory:
“I think it was a good sign. I think we came out a little bit nervous again, and I thought they came out really hard—they didn’t give us much space early again. We kind of found our rhythm, found our game, and I thought—especially after that big [penalty] kill in the second—that we really settled our nerves a little bit. We got to playing how we want to play, and I thought we did a lot of good things in that stretch.”
On improving their game:
“A couple nights ago I don’t think [the problem] was the effort, it was just a little bit of the focus and I think we got a little bit ahead of ourselves. We kind of got nervous, maybe, and got out of our rhythm of how we want to play. I thought tonight—early on we weren’t as sharp as we’d like to be—but we grinded it out. That’s a really good building block for our group, here.”
CATS STATS
- Five different Panthers scored a goal and 12 registered at least one point as the Cats evened the series with Washington at one game apiece.
- Florida scored three goals in the second period, tied for their most goals in one period of a playoff game in club history.
- Aleksander Barkov recorded two points (1-1-2) for his third career playoff multi-point performance. Only Jonathan Huberdeau and Stu Barnes (4) have logged more.
- Barkov’s 16 career playoff points (5-11-16) are tied for the fourth-most in club history.
- Mason Marchment scored his third career playoff goal and registered four hits.
- Anton Lundell tallied his first career playoff goal, becoming the seventh rookie to score a playoff goal in a Panthers uniform.
- Carter Verhaeghe scored his third career playoff goal, his second as a Panther. He also added an assist on Lundell’s goal, marking his first career multi-point playoff game. Verhaeghe has produced a team-leading three points (1-1-2) over the first two games against Washington.
- Jonathan Huberdeau notched an assist for his 17th career playoff point (4-13-17), tied with Dave Lowry for the second-most in franchise history. At 20 years, 214 days, Lundell is the third-youngest player to score a playoffs goal in FLA history, behind Radek Dvorak (19 years 76 days) and Ed Jovanovski (19 years 301 days).
- Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 of 27 WSH shots for a .963 save percentage, including all 20 he faced at even strength.
- Gustav Forsling posted an assist and led the Panthers with 21:08 TOI. His +4 rating tonight is the highest in one playoff game in franchise history. He owns a +6 rating through the first two games of the series against Washington.
- Aaron Ekblad scored his first career playoff goal.
- Sam Reinhart notched an assist on Lundell’s goal, marking his first career playoff point.
- Radko Gudas and Brandon Montour posted assists for the second consecutive game.
- Claude Giroux notched his 49th career playoff assist for his 75th playoff point (26-49-75). He has produced two points (1-1-2) through the first two games of the series.
- The Cats outshot Washington 36-27, including 17-3 in the third period.
- Sam Bennett and Ben Chiarot led Florida with five hits each.
