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Panthers rebound to drub Capitals

Mar 1, 2009 - 11:48 PM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The Florida Panthers easily shook off their worst defensive performance of the season.

Stephen Weiss and defensemen Bryan McCabe and Jay Bouwmeester netted power-play goals in the first period as the Panthers routed the Washington Capitals, 6-2, Sunday.

Florida rebounded from its worst defensive effort of the season - a 7-2 loss at New Jersey on Saturday - to improve to 2-2-0 on its five-game road trip.

"It was a lot better defensive effort and we got rewarded at the other end for it," Panthers coach Peter DeBoer said.

Florida (32-23-8) climbed back into a tie with the New York Rangers (32-24-8) for sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 72 points - three clear of a playoff spot.

"It's a huge two points for us at the point we're at in the season, and especially after what happened last night," Weiss said. "To get this win is a big boost for us."

After facing a 46-shot barrage in New Jersey, Florida netminder Craig Anderson enjoyed a much easier time Sunday, stopping 32 shots. He also was staked to a 4-1 lead after the first period.

"We stunk," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I'm not sure how I even characterize it, but we got beat to every loose puck.

"(It) seemed like they had the puck on the power play for the whole two minutes in our zone every time. I can't sugarcoat it and I can't find excuses for it. We weren't very good."

Washington's Alex Ovechkin scored his league-leading 46th goal of the season, but it came with only 22 seconds remaining in the contest.

With the Capitals trailing by five goals, Ovechkin showed no emotion, avoiding his usual goal celebration.

During his weekly "Coaches Corner" segment on "Hockey Night in Canada" outspoken commentator Don Cherry criticized Ovechkin on Saturday for his exuberant celebrations.

However, Ovechkin and the Capitals had little to celebrate Sunday.

They may have suffered a letdown after Saturday's emotional 4-3 overtime win in Boston pulled the Capitals within eight points of the Eastern Conference-leading Bruins.

"Just (a lack of) discipline, I think," Ovechkin said. "We talked about this the last couple of weeks. We can't play PK all the time, all game if we want to win the game."

Washington's Alexander Semin opened the scoring with a power-play goal 86 seconds into the contest.

However, the Panthers cashed in on all three of their first-period power plays in a 10 1/2-minute span to take control.

Florida entered Sunday's game just 26th on the power play, converting at only a 14.8 percent clip.

"You've (media) got to keep writing about how bad the power play is," DeBoer said. "Guys read it and respond. We didn't change anything.

"In fact, our video broke in pregame meetings so we didn't even get to the power play. Maybe that's the secret - we've got to forgo the preparation. It clicked tonight and hopefully we can continue that."

Richard Zednik scored with 3:44 remaining in the fist to complete Florida's four-goal outburst.

"We showed a lot of character because we've given up early goals in the last three or four games, and we very easily could have said, 'Oh, here we go again, it's not our night,'" McCabe said. "But we buckled down and really took it to them after that."

Washington goaltender Jose Theodore was pulled after allowing four goals on 17 shots in the opening period.

"I pulled him out to protect him," Boudreau said.