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UNRISE, Fla. — T.J. Oshie scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, Vitek Vanecek stopped 30 shots and the Washington Capitals rallied past the top-seeded Florida Panthers 4-2 in the opener of their Eastern Conference first-round series Tuesday night.

Tom Wilson, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Lars Eller also scored for Washington, which trailed 2-1 going into the third period. Teams had been 0-39-1 against Florida in the regular season when trailing after 40 minutes, 0-22-0 when doing so on the Panthers’ home ice.

The Capitals must have ignored those numbers. Kuznetsov tied the game after a Florida turnover with 11:46 left, then Oshie got behind the defense and tapped a pass by Sergei Bobrovsky for what became the winner 2:23 later.

Eller wrapped it up with an empty-netter with 49 seconds left.

Claude Giroux and Sam Bennett scored for Florida, which has not won the opening game of a postseason series since 1997. Bobrovsky stopped 34 shots for the Panthers, the Presidents’ Trophy winners after an NHL-best 122 points in the regular season – and saw the home-ice advantage slip away in their playoff opener.

Game 2 is Thursday, back in Florida.

The Panthers argued for an icing call that didn’t come on the play where the game got tied. MacKenzie Weegar lost the puck after bouncing into Capitals star Alex Ovechkin near center ice, went down, and Kuznetsov skated in alone on Bobrovsky. He beat him to the stick side, tying the game 2-2 with 11:46 left.

Oshie’s go-ahead goal came not long afterward.

NOTES

MAPLE LEAFS: Forward Kyle Clifford has been given a one-game suspension for a boarding incident in Toronto’s playoff-opening win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The NHL’s department of player safety issued the suspension following a hearing with Clifford. It described Monday’s incident as a forceful hit to a defenseless player who is no longer in possession of the puck.

Clifford was assessed a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct 6:59 into Game 1 of the first-round series for a hit on Ross Colton.

The Tampa forward went face-first into the glass, but he escaped serious injury.

Toronto Coach Sheldon Keefe said before the suspension was announced that Clifford’s penalty put the Leafs in a tough spot.

“He’s been around the game a long time and has played that way a long time,” the coach said. “He paid for it in that moment. We paid for it as a team.”

The Leafs won Game 1 5-0 over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. Clifford will miss Game 2 on Wednesday.

The NHL also announced Toronto forward Wayne Simmonds and Tampa Bay forwards Corey Perry and Patrick Maroon were fined $2,250 apiece for unsportsmanlike conduct during the game.

The three players were instigators of a third-period fight.

MONDAY’S LATE GAMES

KINGS 4, OILERS 3: Phillip Danault scored at 14:46 of the third period, leading visiting Los Angeles to a win in Game 1 of the teams’ first-round playoff series.

Trevor Moore and Alex Iafallo each had a goal and assist for the Kings. Brandon Lemieux also scored.

Connor McDavid and Kailier Yamamoto each had a goal and assist for Edmonton. Leon Draisaitl rounded out the scoring with a power-play goal.

Kings goalie Jonathan Quick made 35 saves. Mike Smith stopped 31 of 35 shots for Edmonton.

Game 2 is Wednesday in Edmonton.

BLUES 4, WILD 0: David Perron had a hat trick and an assist to lead visiting St. Louis past Minnesota in Game 1 of their first-round series.

Ryan O’Reilly scored, Torey Krug added three assists and Ville Husso made 37 saves for the shutout in his postseason debut for the Blues.