Behind the glass: Capitals 4, Panthers 3 — Not in our house! Caps beat the Cats to end the home skid

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Saturday. Noon. D.C. The Fortress. A statement win. Read more: Capitals 4, Panthers 3 — Not in our house! Caps beat the Cats to end the home skid

There’s a different feeling walking into Capital One Arena for an early puck drop. Coffee instead of beer. Kids in the brand-new Hometown Remix sweaters. And a building that wasn’t in the mood to watch another home loss. We had just eaten a 5-1 beating from Minnesota and a 6-5 heartbreaker to Dallas. Also, the Caps hadn’t held a lead at any point on the homestand until Saturday. Still, from my seat, you could feel it: this one was personal. The Panthers showed up hot. But the Caps sent them packing. In short, this was a huge win.

The great

Alex Tuch. Again. Early in the second, with Florida up 2-1, Tuch picked Sam Bennett’s pocket at center ice. Then he raced into the right circle and wired it past Akira Schmid at 4:39. In fact, that’s 11 goals in 15 games. It’s also the most by a Capital through 15 games since Ovi put up 12 in 2021-22. So the man is a goal machine, and the Fortress is chanting his name.

Right behind him, the Dubois-Protas show. At 14:55 of the second, Pierre-Luc Dubois threaded a pass across the slot. Aliaksei Protas buried it from the doorstep for a 3-2 lead. Then Protas returned the favor 4:42 into the third. Dubois took the feed from Protas and reached around Schmid to finish it. Goal and an assist each. That’s the big-body second line we’ve been waiting for.

Related: Capitals erase 2-1 deficit to beat Panthers

The good

Jack St. Ivany scored his first career goal 2:21 in. He pounced on a muffed clear by Schmid along the wall and flung it on net. But it slipped through. Ugly, beautiful, and his. Meanwhile, the whole section was on its feet for the kid.

Logan Thompson made 27 saves and stood tall when Florida pushed. Meanwhile, the Caps owned 5-on-5, with a 13-8 edge in high-danger chances. And give the penalty kill credit. Down a man for five full minutes against the two-time champs, it gave up just one.

The bad

Fifty-two seconds after St. Ivany’s goal, Dylan Strome coughed it up in our own zone and Brady Tkachuk tied it. That one deflated the building. The Tkachuk brothers piled up four points in the first period alone. Brady had two goals, and Matthew set the table. So we went to the room down 2-1.

Then the finish. Up two, with the net empty for Florida, we let Bennett score 6-on-5 with 46.6 seconds left. Matthew grabbed his third assist on it. The Caps clamped down after that and didn’t let them back into the zone. But nobody in my row breathed until the horn.

Related: Behind the glass: Wild 5, Capitals 1 — Wild catch Caps flat-footed

The ugly

Not nine minutes in, Tom Wilson drilled Sandis Vilmanis from behind, numbers-first. He sent the young winger face-first into the spot where the boards meet the glass. The result was a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct, and Vilmanis never came back. Still, we love Willy in this town. I’ll defend him nine times out of ten. But not this one. In short, you can’t hit a kid in the numbers like that. Meanwhile, I’m wishing Vilmanis a fast recovery. As for Wilson, the league won’t hold a hearing, so he’s available Tuesday.

Who’s up, who’s down

Hot: Tuch, Dubois, Protas, St. Ivany and Thompson.

Not: Strome’s puck management and Wilson’s discipline. Coach Spencer Carbery: The ongoing discipline disarray is on the head coach. Fix it. Now.

Fans excited or depressed?

Excited and relieved. At 9-6-0, the skid is dead and the Fortress is back to being a fortress.

Next up

The Caps hit the road Tuesday night in Ottawa, then start a home-and-home with New Jersey. So with Wilson back in the lineup, they’ll need the same 5-on-5 push and a lot fewer turnovers. Also, keep Tuch shooting and keep that second line together.

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