COLTON SCEVIOUR

DeSmith figured Ovechkin would try to fire one past him rather than deke his way to the net. DeSmith stayed upright as Ovechkin closed in and felt the familiar smack of rubber hitting him and not the net. “I thought our guys played hard in the second and third against a really good team,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. While Sullivan remains confident Jarry will be fine, he turned to DeSmith to help get Pittsburgh going. Washington went 1 for 4 on the power play, a tap-in goal by Backstrom in the second that gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead.

Following Wednesday’s frenzy of speculation after reports of a trade between the Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins, and subsequent potential breakdown of said trade, the two sides have finally dotted the T’s and crossed the I’s. Florida officially acquired forward Patric Hornqvist on Thursday, sending the Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson and forward Colton Sceviour. Florida Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson plays against the Nashville Predators during an NHL preseason game Monday, Sept. 16, 2019. Sceviour heading to Pittsburgh in the deal is a little frosting on the Pens' cake for taking on Matheson’s contract. They also take on veteran forward Patrick Hornqvist, his strong scoring ability, two Stanley Cups and nearly 770 games of NHL experience.

This sequence by Noel Acciari and the fourth line was a thing of beauty. #FlaPanthers pic.twitter.com/BnIn9TVd1a David Dwork (@DavidDwork) October 6, 2019"It was a huge goal," Quenneville said. In recent years, it had been Sceviour who provided a scoring boost to the fourth line. It's what is unique about this version of Florida's fourth line: There is a (relative) ton of offensive skill to go with the built-in defensive responsibility. Just looking at even-strength minutes, the fourth line combined to play 37:52 Saturday night against Tampa, while the third line, comprised of Frank Vatrano, Henrik Borgstrom and Jayce Hawryluk, was on the ice for just 30:41.