Caps Fall to Flyers, 4-2

Needing two regulation wins in their last three regular season games, the Caps were guilty of starting slowly on Friday night against the Philadelphia Flyers in the opener of a three-game homestand. The Flyers outplayed the Caps over the first half of the contest, and handed Washington its third straight loss at home, 4-2. The Capitals have lost three straight (0-2-1) and five of their last seven (2-4-1) on Capital One Arena ice.

"I didn't like the first period very much," laments Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "I thought we turned the puck over way too much and were too casual with what we were doing. From the second half of the second period, and kind of in and out in the third period, I thought we generated some chances and some really good looks, but we weren't able to score. We hit the post three times and had one called back. I thought we did enough to score more goals.
"Defensively, there were some mistakes. We lost the man high in the offensive zone and it led to some odd-man rushes, and they got a couple of funny bounce goals as well. It's tough, we were probably too inconsistent with the game. It needs to be more consistent.
After a couple of rousing and emotional games against the Rangers in New York earlier in the week, Washington wasn't at its best in the first period, but the Caps were able to come out of the opening stanza all even after a tough start.
Nic Dowd's intended feed behind the Washington net went off the side of the post and kicked out front, causing havoc and a goalmouth scramble. Philly's Joel Farabee managed to punch it home for a 1-0 Philadelphia lead at 1:44 of the first.
A few minutes later, the Caps appeared to have tied the game on another scramble near the paint. But officials on the ice waved the goal off immediately, claiming it was kicked in. A brief video review confirmed that Daniel Sprong had indeed booted it in with his right skate blade.
As Neil Young sings, "Don't be denied." And Sprong wouldn't be. Late in the frame, he scored from the slot off a sublime feed from Anthony Mantha behind the Philly cage. Sprong's 13th goal of the season tied the score at 1-1 at 16:19 of the first.
Philadelphia went back up by a goal early in the second. After the Flyers got a stop in their own end, Oskar Lindblom put a cross-corner dump into the right-wing end of the Washington zone. Flyers rookie Wade Allison - who scored his first NHL goal on Philly's most recent visit to the District last month - cruised in and one-timed the bounce off the back wall into the net from just below the right dot at 4:19.
Just over 10 minutes later, Allison made it 3-1 when he swatted a puck out of midair and off Vanecek's glove while the Flyers had an extra attacker because of a delayed penalty.
Allison's second goal served as Washington's wakeup call. From that point on, the Caps put some continuous heat on the Flyers in their own end over the remainder of the middle frame, and eventually that persistence paid off.
Philadelphia was guilty of icing the puck, and although the Caps lost the ensuing draw in the Flyers' zone, Lars Eller won a battle for the disc deep in Philly territory and he put it to the left point for Brenden Dillon, who floated a shot toward the net. T.J. Oshie cruised through the slot and deftly deflected Dillon's drive past Brian Elliott at 18:51, a mere five seconds after the lost face-off.
The Caps were back in the game, but the Flyers were much more assertive in the third. Washington generated some chances and some looks, but was unable to manufacture the tying tally, coming close on a couple of occasions. Washington's late bid with an extra skater failed, and Sean Couturier sealed the win for Philly with an empty-net goal in the final minute, ending a five-game Washington winning streak over the Flyers.
"I think there were times in the game where we were the better team and there were times where we put our foot off the gas and they had their chances," says Sprong. "We know playoffs is coming up, and that's not how we want to play. I think all of us know what we've got to do [Saturday], and we'll leave it at that."
The Caps still control their own playoff destiny. If they win their final two games, they'll claim the East Division title and home ice advantage through the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs. They'll face the Flyers again on Saturday night at Capital One Arena, and Philly will be itching to play the spoiler once again.
"Tonight I thought our whole group skated well on the ice," says Flyers coach Alain Vigneault. "The only time where we got ourselves in trouble, and it's funny, but it's when we won face-offs in our zone. They're a quick pressure team and we just couldn't make the play to get the puck out. But I like the energy we brought to the table, and hopefully we can do the same [Saturday] night."