FHN Today: Capitals now hold advantage on Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers have a lot of work to do to get back in this series against the Capitals — although they only trail 2-1.

With Game 4 on Monday night, it is not cause for doom-and-gloom but there is definitely cause for concern when it comes to how the Panthers are playing.

Washington has been able to smother the life out of the Florida offense in parts of three games now.

The Panthers’ power play has gotten some chances, but no goals. Defensive miscues are being amplified by the lack of scoring.

It’s a whole thing.

But Monday is another day.

Stay tuned.

PANTHERLAND

The Panthers are down, but definitely not out of this series but they need a win in Game 4 on Monday night to keep their heads above water.

Win Monday and it becomes a best-of-3 series with two of those games in Sunrise.

— Saturday was pretty ugly for the Panthers.

— Catch Saturday’s postgame reaction from Jonathan Huberdeau, Brandon Montour and Andrew Brunette on the FloridaHockeyNow YouTube page.

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The FHN Panthers Postgame is also available on the YT page.

CAP CENTER

Washington Capitals goalie Ilya Samsonov admitted he was emotional as he heard his nickname “Sammy” echo through Capital One Arena during Game 3 on Saturday afternoon.

Samsonov, who has given up just one goal to the Panthers in four periods of work, earned his first playoff win.

— With Tom Wilson still out, the Capitals made some changes to their top-6 — and they worked. More on the Caps’ victory on Sunday HERE.

— Brett Leason, who came up and played for Wilson in Game 2, was scratched Saturday and reassigned to AHL Hershey following the game. Could Wilson be nearing a return? Have to think so.

— For all of your Capitals coverage, head on over to WashingtonHockeyNow.Com … Sammi Silber has you covered.

AROUND THE NHL

The Pittsburgh Penguins played a wild one on Saturday but ran away from the Rangers and now have a 2-1 series lead.

— Joe Pavelski comes up big as Dallas wins another one against Calgary and leads the series 2-1.

— Boston’s Perfection Line of Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak got back together for Game 3 and they certainly did not disappoint.

— Nashville is in big trouble after getting rolled at home by the Avs and falling down 3-0. This has not been much of a series at all.

— New York Islanders forward Mathew Barzal is going to play at the World Championships in Finland.

— The Detroit Red Wings are going to have a new coach — and will be even younger next year.

— After finishing with the worst record this season, the Montreal Canadiens have the best chance at winning the 2022 Draft lottery. Montreal, which will host the draft, has two first round picks this summer.

NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

ROUND 1

PANTHERS V. CAPITALS (WSH leads 2-1)

• Game 4: Monday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Capital One Arena, Washington D.C.  
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida, TBS
• Radio: WQAM 560 (Miami/Fort Lauderdale); WMEN 640 (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3 (Florida Keys); SiriusXM 
• Tickets: CLICK HERE

PANTHERS V. CAPITALS

• Regular season series — Florida won 2-1: @Florida 5, Washington 4 OT (Nov. 4);  @Washington 4, Panthers 3 (Nov. 26); @Florida 5, Washington 4 (Nov. 30)
• All-time regular season series: Capitals lead 67-44-11, 9 ties
• Playoff history: First meeting
• First-round schedule — Game 1: Washington 4, @Florida 2; Game 2: @Florida 5, Washington 1; Game 3: @Washington 6, Florida 1; Game 4: Florida at Washington, Monday, 7 (TBS/BSF); Game 5: Washington at Florida, Wednesday, 7:30 (ESPN2/BSF); Game 6*: Florida at Washington, Friday; Game 7: Washington at Florida, May 15. *If necessary