Flyers Stymie Caps, 3-1

Two games into a three-game series of round-robin games ahead of the NHL playoffs, the Capitals are still seeking their first win, and they can do no better than claiming the third seed in the Eastern Conference when the playoffs get underway next week.

Philadelphia scored once in each period and cruised to a 3-1 win over Washington on Thursday afternoon in the second of three round-robin games for each team. Scott Laughton had two goals and three points and Kevin Hayes had a trio of helpers, as all of the Flyers' production came from the line of Laughton, Hayes and Travis Konecny.

"They're certainly - without a doubt - our best line at this moment," says Flyers coach Alain Vigneault. "I think offensively and defensively tonight, this was their best night. They were good on the foreheck, which created some real good looks and we were able to capitalize."

The Caps spent much of the first two periods killing penalties, which kept their offense up on blocks for a good bit of the afternoon. Washington managed to kill off all six Philly power plays without incident in the first two periods, but the Caps were never really able to establish anything lasting or threatening in the Flyers' end of the ice.

"It can be tough, more so on the guys that are out there playing special teams," says Caps' right wing T.J. Oshie of the Caps' penalty parade. "When you're sitting on the bench and you get a shift here, and then you've got to wait four, five, six minutes when the penalties are going back and forth, it's tough to get in the game and feel good and get into a rhythm. I think that's the hardest part, and tonight - not many people had it tonight - but tonight I think that played a small role in that."

Washington's lone goal came with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game, and a dozen seconds after the Flyers had forged a 3-0 lead on Laughton's second strike of the game. After a rare Caps face-off win in the attack zone, Carl Hagelin put a shot toward the Philadelphia cage, and Travis Boyd tipped it past Flyers netminder Brian Elliott, spoiling the veteran's bid for what would have been his second career playoff shutout.

The goal was Boyd's first career playoff goal, in his second career playoff game. Boyd manned the middle of Washington's third line, subbing for Lars Eller who left Toronto on Wednesday to return home to join his family for the birth of their second child.

"Just an offensive zone draw there," recounts Boyd. "We were able to get possession of it. I just kind of went to the net. One thing led to another, we got a puck down there and I was lucky enough to get a tip on it. First playoff goal, I guess I'll take that."

Boyd's tip-in tally came on the Caps' first shot on net in the third period, and their first in over 10 minutes of total playing time. Of Washington's total of 17 shots on net in the game, Boyd's was the only one to come from inside of 20 feet away, even among their six power play shots.

Overall, the Caps were disappointing and lackluster against a Philadelphia team that handled them with aplomb throughout the regular season. Even the Caps' penalty kill, in turning in a spotless performance, relied on a fair amount of good fortune and put itself in further peril on multiple occasions with failed executions on clearing attempts.

Offensively, the Caps were often in Philadelphia territory only long enough to have a pass intercepted and to start heading south on the backcheck. Philadelphia was the league's best team in shot suppression during the regular season, and the Flyers put on a clinic in that regard on Thursday. Only once all afternoon did the Caps put multiple pucks on net in the same even-strength shift; that happened late in the second period when they were trailing by a 2-0 count.

Only 11 of Washington's meager total of 17 shots on net came at even strength.

"There was a lot in front of me where [the Caps] were trying to find seams," says Elliott, "and guys were taking them away with their sticks, with their skates. They're a team that kind of looks for that extra pass, and I thought we did a really good job of coming back and getting in the right spots.

"Sometimes when you have a layoff of even a week - let along four of five months - those are the little things that you really have to focus on, and I thought we did a really good job of that today."

Laughton gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 13:03 of the first after a Radko Gudas turnover and a pair of quick, sharp feeds from Hayes and Konecny, respectively. With the sides playing 4-vs-4 in the middle of the second period, Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim shook himself free, took a slick dish from Hayes and beat Caps goalie Braden Holtby with a nifty move and shot, scoring what would prove to be the game-winner at 11:30.

Down 2-0 late in the second against the Lightning earlier in the week, the Caps rallied to force overtime. They wouldn't sniff the fumes of a rally on this day, however.

In the third, Laughton made it 3-0 with a deft deflection of a Hayes pass to the net, another instance where a Flyers attacker had way more time and space than he needed to get a shot off from a dangerous area.

"It's individual responsibilities that happen from mistakes prior to that," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "That's how goals happen. We have to execute better with the puck to give ourselves a chance to play in the offensive zone.

"We need to be better. We need more from everybody, right down our list."

Holtby's play was one of few bright spots for Washington; he made a number of stellar stops to prevent the Caps from taking a shellacking on the scoreboard.

Turnovers, needless penalties and shoddy defensive zone coverage all combined to undo the Caps in this one, and they're down to 60 minutes of hockey on Sunday against the Bruins to get their game to where it needs to be going into the playoffs against teams that are playing actual playoff hockey right now.

"We're still looking for that extra gear that we all know we have," says Caps right wing T.J. Oshie. "It's good that we get these games, and some of these mistakes are not playing with the right mentality. You never want to do it, but I think it's better that we did it tonight and in pieces of that Tampa Bay game. But overall, I'm confident in these guys and we're confident in each other. We know our game plan; we've just got to go out there and execute."