Bennett has 3 points, Panthers bounce back with win against Capitals

WASHINGTON -- Sam Bennett had a goal and two assists for the Florida Panthers in a 5-2 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Saturday.

Florida was coming off a 9-1 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

“Obviously no one’s happy with how things went last night and we’ve got a good character group in this locker room,” Bennett said. “It shows that we care and we showed up today. It was just a solid all-around game from everyone.”

Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell and A.J. Greer each had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (25-19-3), who were coming off a 9-1 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday and finished 3-3-0 on their six-game road trip. Sam Reinhart had two assists, and Daniil Tarasov made 22 saves in his first game since Jan. 4.

“We had a tough, tough night [Friday] and we haven’t had many of those,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “And you can’t break apart. You’ve just got to come together. And that would be a players’ thing. They got themselves right before this game.”

Jakob Chychrun scored twice, and John Carlson had two assists for the Capitals (24-19-6), who have lost three of four and 14 of 21 (7-10-4). Logan Thompson made 26 saves.

“I think we’ve just got to find ways here to be better and be better for one another,” Chychrun said. “Just to start to play with a little more desperation, urgency. I think we always try to play so hard as a group, but it just seems right now, everything is just a little bit off.”

Connor McMichael appeared to open the scoring for Washington at 12:48 of the first period, but the play was overturned after Florida successfully challenged for offside.

Greer gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 13:23 when he knocked in the rebound in front after Thompson made the save on Bennett’s stuff attempt.

“We were relentless on the puck, and we made it hard for them to make plays and come out of the zone clean,” Greer said. “We trusted our linemates. I thought we were really hard on the forecheck. We were fast and we did our job.”

Chychrun tied it 1-1 at 2:04 of the second period, scoring far side with a snap shot from the left circle on the rush.

Chychrun’s second goal put the Capitals ahead 2-1 at 10:04, a snap shot through a screen from the center point.

“I think we have good moments through the game where we’re doing things correctly, we’re on our toes, we’re doing a lot of the things that we talk about what our identity looks like,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “And I would say then there’s times when we get away from it, whether it's missed coverage, puck play, lack of execution.”

Bennett then tied it 2-2 at 11:40. Verhaeghe’s shot hit Washington forward Dylan Strome in front and Bennett swept the loose puck past Thompson.

Uvis Balinskis’ power-play goal gave Florida a 3-2 lead at 15:16, scoring on a one-timer from above the right circle off a behind-the-back pass from Lundell.

It was Balinskis’ first game since signing a two-year contract with the Panthers on Friday. He had two takeaways and blocked three shots in addition to scoring in his second straight game.

“I know he scored the goal and that was fantastic, but the rest of his game was just outstanding,” Maurice said. “He got into holes and broke up a whole bunch of plays and had some confidence with the puck.”

Lundell scored into an empty net at 18:40 to make it 4-2, and Verhaeghe added another empty-net goal at 19:26 for the 5-2 final.

NOTES: Reinhart recorded his 99th career multipoint game with the Panthers. He is one shy of becoming the fourth player to reach 100 with the franchise. … Florida swept the three-game season series with Washington. … Chychrun recorded his fifth multigoal game since joining the Capitals in 2024-25, tied with Zach Werenski for second most among all defensemen behind Cale Makar (8). … Carlson has nine points (one goal, eight assists) in his past seven games.