Time CAPSule - Caps Power Past Philly to Force Game 6

Earlier this season, we posted a lengthy piece on Alex Ovechkin's early years in DC and another shorter piece on Nicklas Backstrom's five-year contract extension. In the process of crafting those stories and talking to the subjects themselves and many others, we were reminded of how exciting and thrilling the 2007-08 NHL season was in these parts.

It stands as Ovechkin's career year, it was Backstrom's rookie year, Bruce Boudreau took over behind the Washington bench on Thanksgiving Day, and the Caps made the playoffs for the first time in five years, winning 15 of 19, 11 of 12 and seven straight at season's end to come back from a dismal 6-14-1 start to win the Southeast Division title.

That season and that run into the playoffs augured in the "Rock The Red" era of hockey in DC, the beginning of 11 playoff appearances in a span of a dozen seasons. At this time a dozen years ago, the Caps were in the midst of that wild run. With the NHL's 2019-20 season "paused" for the foreseeable future, we're going to spend the next month looking back at the day-to-day of that remarkable late-season run, revisiting some of our coverage at the time with some fresh hindsight mixed in. On the off days between games, we will revisit some events from earlier in that landmark season. Enjoy!

Sunday, April 20, 2008

A day after extending their season with a 3-2 victory over the Flyers in Game 5 of their first round series, the Caps are getting set to head back to Philadelphia for Game 6 on Monday night. The Flyers still lead the series 3-2, and Games 6 and 7 are slated for back-to-back nights, with a deciding Game 7 back in Washington on Tuesday, if necessary.

After being somewhat dormant in the early games of the series, Washington's power play struck twice for the second straight game in its Game 5 victory. The Caps were 2-for-16 with the extra man in the first three games of the series, but they've gone 4-for-10 in the last two games, accounting for two-thirds of their total offense in those two contests.

Nicklas Backstrom started the scoring on Saturday, sneaking to the back door on his off side and converting a brilliant Alexander Semin feed at 7:31 of the first. The 5-on-3 power-play goal gave the Caps a 1-0 lead, an advantage they took to the first intermission. The Caps outshot Philly 12-4 and outhit the Flyers 22-9, putting forth one of their best periods of the series to date. A pair of stellar Cristobal Huet saves - one on Mike Knuble and the other on Daniel Briere - preserved the lead.

Sergei Fedorov's backhander from the slot made it a 2-0 game at 1:25 of the second, giving the Caps their first multi-goal lead of the series. Vinny Prospal tied it for the Flyers on a Philadelphia power play midway through the middle period, and the Caps carried a 2-1 advantage into the third.

With 5:27 left in the third and the Caps on a power play, Semin spun off his check high in Philadelphia ice, buying just enough time to release a rocket of a wrist shot from the high slot. Semin's shot beat Martin Biron to make it 3-1, a goal that loomed larger when Philly's Derian Hatcher scored less than a minute later.

But Huet and the Caps closed out the victory, forcing the Flyers to head back up I-95 for a shot and finishing the series in front of the home folks in Game 6 on Monday.

Here's our postgame notebook from the Caps' Game 5 win:

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The Other Russian Sniper - While the Flyers focus their defensive shutdown tactics on Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin has started to become a factor in this series.

Semin, who netted 64 goals in 140 regular season games over the last two seasons, delivered the death blow in Saturday's Game 5 when he ripped a shot high to the glove side to beat Philadelphia goaltender Martin Biron.

Semin has a goal in each of the last two games now, and has two goals and six points in the five games to date. He also made a terrific play to set up Nicklas Backstrom on a two-man advantage in the first period and now ranks second on the team in playoff scoring.

Young Guns - Semin, Backstrom and defenseman Mike Green are the only three Capitals with multiple goals in this series. Green leads the team with three while Semin and Backstrom each have a pair.

The Hammer Going Down - Washington came out hard and furious in the first, outshooting the Flyers 12-4 and outhitting Philly 22-9. Donald Brashear led the way with six hits in the first period alone. Brashear had six hits in 3:41 during the first and finished the game with seven. He and the Flyers' Scott Hartnell led all skaters from both sides with seven hits.

Shutdown Street - The Capitals held Philadelphia without a shot on goal for the final 15:01 of the first period in Game 5. From roughly the five-minute mark of the first period through roughly the middle of the second period, Philadelphia had just one shot on goal over a span of 25:36.

The Flyers made up for that fallow period in the third when they launched 21 of their total of 32 shots on goal for the afternoon.

The 8 Train - Ovechkin is without a goal in four straight games for the first time since he closed out the month of February by going seven straight contests without a tally. Ovechkin did get six shots on goal in Saturday's Game 5, the most he has managed in any game of the series.

Ovechkin had three hits in the game, giving him 29 for the series. That's the most of any skater in the league during the playoffs, pending the rest of Saturday's playoff action.

"My goals are coming," Ovechkin said after Saturday's game. "I don't care if I don't score and we win. If I play one minute in a game and we win the game, it will be a good result."

Special Delivery - For the second straight game, the Caps made the Flyers pay for their transgressions. Washington had two power play goals in a losing effort in Game 4 and added two more today in Game 5. Washington is now 4-for-10 (40%) with the extra man in its last two games and is 6-for-26 (23.1%) on the power play in the series.

Washington has allowed Philadelphia to score a power play goal in four of the five games. The Caps have a penalty-killing rate of 84% in the series.

Game 5 - After Saturday's win, the Capitals are now 2-5 all-time in the fifth games of series in which they trail 1-3 going in. Washington is now 7-17 all-time in Game 5.

Leading After Two - Washington was 26-1-2 when leading after two periods during the regular season. The Capitals led Thursday's Game 4 after two periods, but lost in overtime. In Game 5, they successfully nursed the lead to the end.

Scoring First - Washington netted the game's first goal on Saturday for the second time in the series. The Caps are now 2-0 in the series when they score first.

Skid Stopper - During the final 61 games of the regular season, Washington suffered three losing streaks of as many as three games in duration. Washington was 0-2-1 once and was 0-1-2 twice. Saturday's win ended the team's current slide at three games and prevented the Caps from enduring their first-ever four-game losing streak during Bruce Boudreau's tenure as head coach.

First in Five - Sergei Fedorov's second period goal was his first in the Stanley Cup playoffs since Apr. 16, 2003 when he scored at 17:45 of the third period in Game 4 of Detroit's four-game opening round series with Anaheim.

The Wings were swept in four straight that year, and Fedorov's goal evened the game late in regulation. But Anaheim's Steve Rucchin scored in overtime to cap off the Ducks' stunning sweep of Detroit.

Green Means Go - With a pair of assists in Saturday's game, Green now has seven points (three goals, four assists) to lead all NHL defensemen in playoff scoring.

Shot-Blocking Machine - Flyers captain Jason Smith has long been known as one of the best shot-blockers in the business, but he has taken the fine art to a new level in this series. Smith laid out in front of seven shots on Saturday, giving him 20 blocked shots so far in the five-game series. That ties him with Montreal's Mike Komisarek for the league lead in that department.

22 Skidoo - Flyers winger Mike Knuble injured his left hamstring during Saturday's game and will miss the remainder of the series, according to Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren.

Back Door Boys - Philadelphia has four power play goals in the series, all on back door plays. Danny Briere has scored three of them, but today he threaded the perfect pass that set up Philly's Vaclav Prospal for a 5-on-3 back door strike.

The Caps managed to keep Briere from lighting the lamp, but he assisted on both Flyer goals and now leads the league in playoff scoring with nine points (five goals, four assists).

The Diving Card - Flyers winger Joffrey Lupul played the diving card after Game 5, despite the fact that he didn't take any penalties in Game 5 and has picked up only 2 PIM in the series to date.

"It's tough," he lamented after Saturday's game. "We're a physical team and we're going to play hard. There are some calls where we're making mistakes, and some calls where their guys are diving. It's tough for us. We're going to keep playing the same way, though. We've got to work through that."

Down on the Farm - Hershey visits Wilkes-Barre/Scranton tonight for Game 2 of its East Division semifinal series with the Baby Pens. The Pens took Game 1 at Giant Center in Hershey on Wednesday. Game 3 is also in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Sunday.

One night after taking a 1-0 series lead over the Gwinnett Gladiators in Game 1 of their second-round ECHL playoff series, the South Carolina Stingrays will host Game 2 of the best-of-five set tonight at North Charleston Coliseum. The Rays took a 5-2 win on home ice in Friday night's Game 1.