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Panthers Playoff GameDay

Game 2 — Capitals at Panthers: Lineups, Betting Odds, How to Watch

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The Florida Panthers will be back at home for Game 2 against the Washington Capitals on Thursday night. — Photo @GeorgeRichards

SUNRISE — Florida Panthers coach Andrew Brunette did not categorize his team’s loss in Game 1 of the playoffs as a “wake-up call” but more of an “eye-opener.”

Regardless, if the Panthers did not take the eighth-seeded Washington Capitals seriously before the series started, they certainly do now.

Washington stymied the high-flying Panthers on Tuesday night, limiting their scoring chances as well as slowing down the style they want to play.

”We did not manage the puck as well as we should have against how they played and we struggled in the neutral zone a little bit,” Brunette said. “They clogged it up pretty good and were pretty tight. We were disconnected offensively with the puck. Credit to them, but we have to find a way to fight through it.”

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Florida, as has been the case at times this season, struggled when they could not come through the zone with speed as the Capitals bottled Florida up in the neutral zone and did not offer many clean looks.

The Capitals were the better team on Tuesday night, the play of Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky keeping it close.

The Florida Panthers held a 2-1 lead thanks to Claude Giroux’s goal early in the second period, but a couple miscues in the third led to Washington goals and a 4-2 loss.

”You learn from them and move on,” Brunette said of the mistakes Florida made on Tuesday. “There are lots of things we could have done better and some things we did really well. It’s a game of adjustments and we have to do some things a little differently and a little more efficiently.’’

On Wednesday, the Florida Panthers were ready to put that game behind them and get back into this best-of-7 series.

“We just have to keep things simple and play the way we have all year,” Anthony Duclair said. “We don’t have to change too much but we have to tighten up defensively. They have some players who can make some plays at any given moment.”

— Tom Wilson is out for Game 2 with coach Peter Laviolette saying he is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Wilson, who scored the Capitals’ first goal at the end of a power play Tuesday, only played three shifts in Game 1 before leaving the game.

He returned in the second period and took a few strides on the ice but went back down the tunnel and returned to the room.

Washington recalled AHL forward Brett Leason from Hershey on Thursday and he will be in the lineup.

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— Florida changed things up a little with the big move coming in the bottom-6.

Noel Acciari replaces Ryan Lomberg in the lineup and on the left side of the fourth line; Claude Giroux and Sam Reinhart are also changing spots.

Sergei Bobrovsky is back in net after a terrific Game 1.

NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

ROUND 1

PANTHERS V. CAPITALS (WSH leads 1-0)

  • Game 1: Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
  • Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise  
  • TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida, TBS
  • Radio: WQAM 560 (flagship); WMEN 640 (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3 (Florida Keys); SiriusXM 
  • Tickets: CLICK HERE
  • Draft Kings odds — Florida favored: Money Line (-240); Puck line (-1.5, +100); Over/Under 6.5 (-125/+105); Series (-175)

PANTHERS V. CAPITALS

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINEUP

Coach: Andrew Brunette

23 Carter Verhaeghe // 16 Sasha Barkov // 10 Anthony Duclair

11 Jonathan Huberdeau // 8 Sam Bennett // 13 Sam Reinhart

17 Mason Marchment // 15 Anton Lundell // 28 Claude Giroux

55 Noel Acciari // 27 Eetu Luostarinen // 70 Patric Hornqvist

52 MacKenzie Weegar // 5 Aaron Ekblad

42 Gus Forsling // 7 Radko Gudas

8 Ben Chiarot // 62 Brandon Montour

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

30 Spencer Knight

PP1: Reinhart – Barkov – Giroux – Huberdeau – Ekblad

PP2: Hornqvist – Bennett – Duclair – Marchment – Montour

Scratched: Lucas Carlsson, Petteri Lindbohm, Joe Thornton, Maxim Mamin, Robert Hagg, Jonas Johansson, Ryan Lomberg

Injured: Markus Nutivaara (LTIR)

PROJECTED WASHINGTON CAPITALS LINEUP

Coach: Peter Laviolette

8 Alex Ovechkin // 92 Evgeny Kuznetsov // 73 Conor Sheary

90 Marcus Johansson // 19 Nicklas Backstrom // 49 Brett Leason

39 Anthony Mantha // 20 Lars Eller // 77 T.J. Oshie

22 Johan Larsson // 26 Nic Dowd // 21 Garnet Hathaway

42 Martin Fehervary // 74 John Carlson

9 Dmitri Orlov // 3 Nick Jensen

57 Trevor van Riemsdyk // 2 Justin Schultz

41 Vitek Vanecek

30 Ilya Samsonov

PP1: Oshie – Backstrom – Kuznetsov – Ovechkin – Carlson

PP2: Wilson – Sheary – Mantha – Schultz – Orlov

Injured: Tom Wilson (d2d, LBI)

Washington Capitals lines courtesy WashingtonHockeyNow.Com

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