Caps pay for lack of effort

Three minutes of inspired play weren’t enough to make up for the lackadaisical effort that came before them for the Washington Capitals.

A pair of late goals made the score say otherwise, but the Caps were handily beaten Tuesday night by the Florida Panthers, a 5-3 defeat that was their first in regulation at Verizon Center this season.

“I think we came out like everyone thought this was going to be an easy game, and we didn’t compete,” said Nicklas Backstrom, who had a goal and an assist for the Caps. “There is not any easy games in the NHL. … We did a terrible job today. I think we played too soft, and we didn’t compete.”

Backstrom provided the only goal of a sluggish first period, but the Panthers countered with four straight. With the Caps on the power play, Backstrom sent the puck across the crease, but instead of reaching his intended target - Alex Ovechkin - it deflected off Florida defenseman Jay Bouwmeester’s skate and into the net at 15:57.

The wacky bounces continued in the second period. After Ville Peltonen’s goal at 6:19 tied the score, the Panthers opened a two-goal lead thanks to a pair of unlucky bounces for the Caps. After Ovechkin went to the penalty box for goalie interference, David Steckel attempted a hard pass through the middle of the ice from the right corner. Instead of finding Shaone Morrisonn on the far side, the puck hit defenseman Karl Alzner’s skate and bounced into the Washington goal before netminder Jose Theodore could react at 7:28.

Less than five minutes later, the Panthers added another quirky power-play goal. Bryan McCabe’s shot from the left point appeared to be headed wide, but the puck hit Boyd Gordon and then Morrisonn and went in at 12:09.

“Nothing went our way, but we didn’t work for our opportunities,” defenseman Tyler Sloan said. “We didn’t get the bounces, but we didn’t work for them.”

Down three goals in the waning moments, the Caps finally mustered a comeback. Viktor Kozlov notched his fourth goal of the season after a nice drop pass from Backstrom at 16:11 of the third period. Tomas Fleischmann made it 4-3 less than a minute later. With the Caps on a power play, Ovechkin flubbed a shot from the top of the left circle, and Kozlov swung and missed at the bouncing puck, but Fleischmann was able to knock it in from near the far post for his 10th goal.

Washington continued to push for an equalizer, but Gregory Campbell sealed the contest by putting the puck into an empty net with a minute remaining.

“Anybody can make it close and play hard for seven minutes and say, ’Wow, we were close,’” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “But it wasn’t a close game. They were dominating us to the point where you’re undefeated at home and you’re getting booed - which probably was rightfully deserved at one point in the third period.”

The Caps played their fourth straight game without seven regulars in the lineup. The five eligible to play - Mike Green (shoulder), Tom Poti (groin), Sergei Fedorov (ankle), Alexander Semin (upper body) and John Erskine (concussion) - were on the ice Tuesday morning at Kettler Capitals Iceplex for varying amounts of time. Boudreau said he hopes to have someone back Thursday against the New York Islanders - he just isn’t sure who is the closest to returning.

Florida also was without several top players, including its top three goal scorers - David Booth, Nathan Horton and Cory Stillman. The Panthers did not dress a player with more than four goals before the game began.

“We didn’t play very good. We didn’t play with a lot of life, and everybody is accountable,” Boudreau said. “That’s what I said in the room today. I said, ’It’s not me coming in and yelling at you. You guys should start yelling at each other to get some of [you] going.’

“There were some guys that definitely weren’t playing well tonight.”