Caps Face Flyers on Saturday Afternoon
Washington opens a set of weekend back-to-back matinee matches in Philadelphia
Washington opens a four-game stretch of road contests on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia against the Flyers. The matinee match is the opener of a pair of weekend afternoon games; the Caps will take on the Bruins in Boston on Sunday. Saturday's game is also the Caps' final visit to Philly this season.
The Caps will come home after Sunday's game with the Bruins, and they'll head back out on the road later in the week for a pair of games against the Islanders in New York, the first two of three straight games against the Isles.
A three-game Washington winning streak came to a halt on Thursday night when the Caps dropped a 5-2 decision to the Buffalo Sabres at Capital One Arena. The Caps weren't sharp in any aspect of their game while the Sabres played a committed 60 minutes and came away with the victory. Although the Sabres still own the League's worst record, they've earned points in eight of their last 10 games (5-2-3).
After Thursday's morning skate, Caps coach Peter Laviolette delivered a prescient assessment of the Sabres.
"They're playing hard right now and they're winning games," said the Caps bench boss of the Sabres. "So if you're not ready to play them, there's a good chance you'll lose the game. There are no easy passes inside of the night-to-night grind; you've got to show up and compete in every game. We're expecting them to play a good game, so we should expect to do the same thing."
Buffalo outcompeted the Caps and earned its first regulation win in Washington since Nov. 22, 2014.
"We didn't have the start we wanted, and they outworked us in the first half of the game for sure," says Caps defenseman Zdeno Chara. "I think we definitely could have been better engaged emotionally and mentally; we could have had a better mindset."
"We'll take what we can from tonight, and we'll try to get better," said Laviolette afterwards. "We've got some big games coming up. It wasn't our night."
Washington has a dozen games remaining, six at home and six on the road. All 12 of those contests are coming against teams that still harbor realistic playoff hopes, so the Caps can certainly expect to see other teams' best efforts on a night in and night out basis the rest of the way.
When the Caps and Flyers met earlier in the week in the District, they certainly didn't see Philadelphia's best. Washington scored four times in the first period en route to a 6-1 victory over the Flyers. Anthony Mantha had a goal and an assist in his Caps debut and Connor Sheary scored Washington's first goal of the game and added a pair of helpers.
A day later, the Caps announced that they had agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension worth $3 million. It's been a busy news week for the Caps with the acquisition of Mantha and Michael Raffl on Monday and Nicklas Backstrom's 1,000th career game on Thursday, so the Sheary extension has gone a bit under the radar. The 28-year-old Massachusetts native has been a solid and versatile addition to the Washington lineup this season after signing a one-year deal for $735,000 on Dec. 22, just prior to the start of training camp.
"I think it's a mix of a lot of things," said Sheary when asked about fitting in with Washington. "I think I came into a winning team with a winning culture. I've said that multiple times, but I think I fit into that mold. I'm a complementary player that can play up and down the lineup. With the skill and the talent that is on this team, I think I was able to fit in seamlessly and have some success with a lot of different players. I think it was a no-brainer for me when I was offered the contract to come back."
Sheary has 11 goals and 19 points in 41 games this season.
After roaring out to a strong 11-4-3 start to the campaign, the Flyers have been free-falling since the beginning of March. Philadelphia has won nine of 25 games since, going 9-13-3 while winning consecutive games just once during that span. Their .420 points percentage over that span ranks 24th in the NHL.
More alarming, the Flyers have surrendered an average of 3.96 goals per game over that stretch, worst in the League. With 2.48 goals for per game during that span, Philadelphia ranks 25th in the NHL. Philly is coming off a 2-1 shootout win over the Penguins on Thursday.
The Flyers defeated the Caps in Washington on Super Bowl Sunday, winning 7-4. A scheduled game in the District two days later was postponed because of a COVID outbreak among the Flyers, and the Caps have won each of the four meetings between the two teams since.
