Panthers rebound from drubbing a day earlier to top Caps

Sam Bennett had a goal and two assists to lead the Florida Panthers to a 5-2 win over the host Washington Capitals on Saturday night.

A.J. Greer had a goal and an assist, and Anton Lundell, Carter Verhaeghe and defenseman Uvis Balinskis also scored for the Panthers, who bounced back from a 9-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday. Sam Reinhart had two assists and Daniil Tarasov made 22 saves.

Defenseman Jakob Chychrun scored both goals for the Capitals, who lost their third in four games. Defenseman John Carlson had two assists and Logan Thompson stopped 26 shots.

Two goals in less than four minutes gave the Panthers a 3-2 lead after two periods.

Bennett capitalized on a loose puck in front to tie it 2-2 with 8:20 left in the second period and Balinskis' power-play goal with 4:44 remaining gave Florida the lead for good. He scored on a one-time slap shot from above the right circle for his second goal in two games.

Lundell and Verhaeghe added empty-net goals in the final 90 seconds.

Chychrun scored twice in the second to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead.

He connected on a shot from the left circle off the rush 2:04 into the second period to tie the game 1-1, and fired in a wrist shot from just inside the blue line in the middle of the ice with 9:56 left in the period to give him 17 goals. It was his third two-goal game of the season.

Greer gave Florida a 1-0 lead with 6:37 left in the first period. He put in a loose puck from just outside of the crease for his third goal in his last three games.

The goal came 35 seconds after an apparent goal by Washington's Connor McMichael was overturned for offsides after a challenge by Panthers' coach Paul Maurice.

Florida had a 10-1 shots advantage in the game's first 11:50 and 14-4 for the first period.