Sunrise, FL (My Sportsbook) - Brian Pothier scored a power-play goal and collected two assists, as the Washington Capitals defeated the Florida Panthers, 4-1, in the front end of a home-and-home series at BankAtlantic Center.

Brendan Morrison tallied twice and Tyler Sloan also found the back of the net for the Capitals, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Jose Theodore made 28 saves in the win.

Washington played its second straight game without the services of superstar Alex Ovechkin, who suffered an upper-body strain in Sunday's overtime loss to Columbus. He will also miss Saturday's game at Verizon Center against the Panthers. His status will be updated early next week.

Nathan Horton scored the lone goal for Florida, which had won three straight. Tomas Vokoun, who had posted back-to-back shutouts in his previous two starts, stopped 21-of-24 shots in defeat.

"We had opportunities. We could have had four or five goals tonight," Panthers forward Cory Stillman said.

For the second straight game, Sloan opened the scoring for Washington, positioning himself in the slot and one-timing a feed from Chris Clark behind Vokoun 4:53 into the first period.

"I was just coming up to join the play. Clark had it on the left side...[He] made a great pass, and I just shot and hoped it went in," Sloan said.

The tally snapped Vokoun's scoreless streak at 147 minutes and two seconds, and came moments after the puck rested precariously in the crease before it was swiped away by a Florida defenseman.

Morrison made it 2-0 at 10:46 of the middle frame when he fired a shot from the left circle over the glove hand of Vokoun.

Pothier's bullet from the left point gave Washington a three-goal advantage at 6:56 of the third, but Horton countered on the power play at 10:28, banging home the rebound of a Dmitry Kulikov shot.

A little over a minute later, Capitals defenseman Shaone Morrisonn stapled Florida's Kenndal McArdle into the boards. Morrisonn was assessed a five- minute major and a 10-minute misconduct for the hit. The Panthers, though, failed to convert on the lengthy power play.

Morrison's empty-net goal in the final minute sealed the win.

Game Notes

Florida defenseman Bryan McCabe appeared in his 1,000th career NHL game...Washington rearguard Mike Green left the game with an undisclosed injury...The Capitals have scored first in 13 of 16 games this season.