The Caps headed to Florida coming off their very first consecutive losses of the season and needing to get back in the win column. They didn’t necessarily play poorly in their two losses, so it was good to see them not get down and continue to play good hockey – great hockey, in fact, and maybe their best game in a month.
The most important play of the game was, unsurprisingly, the eventual game-winning goal by Jakob Chychrun, which was scored while the Caps were on a 5-on-3 advantage. There’s no stat to prove this but the general rule of thumb is that if you don’t score on a 5-on-3 (at least when it’s a lengthy one), it’s harder to win the game, as it can deflate the team that doesn’t score and pumps up the team that kills it.