Florida Panthers starting goalie vs Washington Capitals and confirmed lineup updates

Friday's 9-1 faceplant in Carolina still stings, and the standings do not care about excuses. Florida sits 24-19-3, and this road stop in Washington feels like a «stop the bleeding» night.

Paul Maurice is going to Daniil Tarasov in goal, and that choice is easy to understand right now. Sergei Bobrovsky has carried plenty, and a calm reset game is exactly what this group needs.

Tarasov's last three starts tell a pretty clean story, one sharp win and two tough nights. He beat Colorado 2-1 on Jan. 4 with 27 saves on 28 shots, then allowed 3 on 29 in an overtime loss to Montreal, and 5 on 31 versus St. Louis.

The other wrinkle is on the blue line, where Jameson Olive reported Tobias Bjornfot coming in for Donovan Sebrango. Some public lineup projections still had Sebrango in, so I'll treat that swap as «reported and pending» until warmups make it official.

If Bjornfot does dress, it is a simple bet on steadier touches under pressure. He has 134 NHL games on his resume, and Florida has not exactly looked comfortable breaking pucks out lately.

I can live with a tight loss, but fans need to see the old bite, hard forecheck pressure, and fewer free looks in the slot.

Against Washington, the details matter more than the highlight stuff. Cleaner exits help the forwards hold the offensive zone longer, and that keeps Alex Ovechkin's line from living off quick strike counters.

For Tarasov, the assignment is simple, track pucks, control rebounds, and let Florida's structure do the heavy lifting. His season line is 5-6-2 with a .904 save percentage and a 2.81 goals-against average, good enough to win if the Panthers show up on time.

This one does not need to be pretty, it just needs to look like Panthers hockey again, and it needs to end with two points and a calmer Monday.