The Caps’ explosive offense left Florida Panthers winger Mike Duco so frustrated that he
felt the need to attack Caps left wing Alexandre Giroux. Duco was rightfully ejected,
and the Caps won 6-2. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Capitals-Panthers game was less than 10 minutes old Thursday night when one fan was already shouting, “come on, [Alex] Semin, make us happy to see you.” By the end of the period, Semin — playing in his first game since November 14 — delivered, scoring his first of two goals, as the Caps beat the Panthers 6-2.

Florida replaced starting goalie Scott Clemmensen after Thomas Fleischmann scored again in the first, putting rookie goalie Alexander Salak into what looked like the Hockey Horror Picture Show. In a textbook case of how not to make an impression in your second NHL game, the Panthers’ Mike Duco creamed the Caps’ Alexandre Giroux near center ice and started throwing punches after Giroux checked two Panthers. By that time, the Caps were already up 4-0; Duco’s rampage gave them a seven-minute power play (he got called for instigating, fighting, aggressor, and a 10-minute game misconduct) during which the Caps scored twice.

Both teams spent a lot of time in the box Thursday, racking up 55 penalty minutes between the two benches. Twelve of those minutes belonged to the Caps, while 27 alone were for Duco. The Caps ended 3-for-12 on the power play, while Florida, who has the worst power play percentage on the road in the NHL, laid a goose egg with the man advantage.

Caps head coach Bruce Boudreau said he purposely kept his top line guys on the ice for the power play after the game misconduct.

“Hockey used to be you hit a guy hard and that’s what it’s all about,” Boudreau said. “Now you hit a guy hard and you think you have to retaliate on that. It’s stupid. It was a dumb thing and [Duco] took his team totally out of a chance to win the game.”