In the second half of a home-and-home set, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Washington Capitals, 3-1, at Capital One Arena on Saturday. The Flyers, who have won seven of their last eight games, swept the home-and-home with Washington.
POSTGAME 5: Flyers Grit Out 3-1 Win in Washington
In the second half of a home-and-home set, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Washington Capitals, 3-1, at Capital One Arena on Saturday
The Flyers wrapped up their season series with Washington with a 2-1-1 record. All four games were highly competitive right down to the end. With the win, the Flyers pulled themselves back up to "hockey .500" on the season at 18-18-7.
While Philly controlled the majority of play for two-plus periods in Wednesday's 5-3 win over Washington at the Wells Fargo Center, this game was very much driven by goaltending. clutch blocked shots (25 by the Flyers) and resiliency. Philly never trailed but the Capitals attacked in waves for substantial junctures.
Laughton (PPG, 11th goal of the season) deflected home a Tony DeAngelo point shot to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 13:16 of the first period. A Morgan Frost giveaway in the defensive slot directly turned into an Alex Ovechkin goal (30th) at 13:16.
Washington controlled the early minutes of the second period but Philly pushed back for closely spaced goals by James van Riemsdyk (7th) at 4:51 and Wade Allison (6th) at 5:40. The Capitals entered the game with the NHL's best second period goal differential. On Wednesday in Philadelphia, the Flyers dominated a scoreless second period. Three nights later, the Flyers generated the only two goals of a middle stanza where both teams had numerous dangerous chances.
Carter Hart played a brilliant game, especially in a 19-save third period. Washington never made a dent in the 3-1 lead Philly established in the middle stanza.
Hart finished with 39 saves on 40 shots. For long stretches, the Flyers kept the play to the outside but, when dangerous chances developed, Hart was there for the saves. Darcy Kuemper played well again but not as well as his Flyer
The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. The Capitals were 0-for-3.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]
TURNING POINT
Within a span of 49 seconds in the second period, the Flyers went from being back on their heels and the Capitals heavily threatening to take the lead to Philly. holding a 3-1 edge they never relinquished.
First, Frost redeemed himself for a first period gaffe by starting the JVR goal sequence along with Tippett. After two more scoring chances by that line immediately after the van Riemsdyk goal, Hayed made a patient play with the puck down to set up Allison.
Konecny saw his 10-game, 20-point streak come to an end and was held quiet by Washington until the latter third period. Instead, other Flyers stepped up.
Hart was the deserving No. 1 star of the game, but it was a team win through and through.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) The Capitals had a 3-on-2 rush on the game's first shift but the pass missed connections. On the second shift, after taking a heavy hit in the defensive zone (without the puck but no penalty was called), Frost drove to the net but James van Riemsdyk was unable to thread the puck to him past a defender.
Tippett went in to forecheck but tripped Trevor van Riemsydk in the process, taking the game's first penalty at 3:14. The Capitals were unable to gain entry and get set up on the power play for the first 1:20 of the advantage. With seven seconds left, Hart robbed Tom Wilson on an open one-timer from the slot. It was the game's first shot on goal.
Kevin Hayes blasted a shot on net at 6:07 from high in the Washington zone. Allison lurked near the net but Kuemper made the save and prevented a rebound.
On the next shift, the Capitals generated a 2-on-1 counterattack. Hart denied Anthony Mantha one-on-one.
At 8:36, Provorov absorbed a hit from Tom Wilson but kept the play alive in the Washington zone. Shots on goal were 3-2 Caps through 10:45.
The Flyers caught a break on a pretty blatant trip by York on Conor Sheary. No penalty was called. Moments later, Evgeny Kuznetsov missed the net on a shot attempt at 11:25.
The Flyers went on the power play at 13:05. MacEwen was taken down by Lars Eller as he went for an airborne puck in the Washington zone. The Flyers made quick work of the power play after controlling the first faceoff. Farabee passed the puck low-to-high out to DeAngelo at the point. Laughton scored on a high tip of the point shot at 13:16. The assists went to DeAngelo and Farabee.
The Capitals wanted a penalty call, but didn't get it, as Kuemper was bumped around the net. Washington iced the puck at 18:02. With 2:12 left, Oshie found room in the Flyers zone, and tested Hart with a wrister from the right circle.
Washington's Kuznetsov won the next faceoff. Sheary deflected a puck on net. Collecting the puck deep in the defensive zone, Frost made an ill-advised pass between his legs intended for defenseman Seeler. Instead, he gave the puck away directly to Ovechkin, who scored an unassisted goal on a backhander at 17:56.
Orlov rang a shot off the crossbar from a back pass by Bäckström with 1:01 left on the first period clock.
2) First period shots on goal were 7-5 in Washington's favor. Shot attempts, however, were much less even: 23 shots attempted by the Caps to 11 for the Flyers. Scoring chances were 10-3 Capitals with a 6-1 high-ander
3) Frost had another tough shift to start the second period. In the neutral zone, he was checked by Kuznetsov, fell down and lost the puck. The Capitals generated some attack time in the Philadelphia zone. Frost did help out defensively late in the shift.
Philly continued to spend a lot of time defending. Hart made a deflection save. Eller took Sanheim off a puck on the boards.
The Flyers retook the lead at 2-1 at 4:51. Frost collected a Kuemper turnover and started a tic-tac-toe goal: Frost to Tippett to JVR to the back of a yawning net. Also of note: the sequence started with a good neutral zone play by Frost.
The 25-48-74 line came right back out and had another chance on their very next shift, with both Frost and van Riemsdyk having opportunities in front. Keumper made both saves.
At 5:40, however, the Flyers extended the lead to 3-1. It started with a play off the faceoff circle by Laughton. Hayes created a chance off a saucer pass, and Allison potted it from the slot. Hayes and Laughton earned the assists.
Hart stopped a very tricky deflection by Eller at 7:43. A scrum briefly ensued at the net after the whistle. On the next shift, Patrick Brown turned a puck over in the slot and then erased it by blocking a Nic Dowd shot. On an ensuing faceoff, Cates lost the draw but came up with a block on Erik Gustafsson.At 9:45, JVR was sent to the box for tripping Gustafsson behind the Washington net as their skates got tangled. Hart came up with a positional save on a bang-bang chance from the slot. The Flyers then had a 2-on-1 opportunity, which Farabee nearly snuck past Kuemper on a quick snapshot after looking off a defender. Brown came up with a loose puck against Ovechkin late in the successful kill.
Tippett had a breakaway attempt with play back at 5-on-5. He put the puck wide of the net in close. At the other end of the ice, Hart tracked a puck through traffic as Trevor van Riemsdyk put the puck to the net from up high.
Orlov blasted a shot on net off a clean Bäckström faceoff win. Allison blocked a shot out of the D zone but the Caps went right back to the attack. Orlov generated another shot on net. Hart absorbed it and held for a much-needed stoppage of play at 14:33.
Frost worked a slick pass in front to TIppett for a scoring chance. in front. The shot attempt was blocked. With 2:30 left, Seeler blocked a Wilson shot from the slot but a ticky tack slashing penalty was whistled on Laughton three seconds later.
At 17:40, Hart cleanly stopped a Bäckström shot from the right dot. The Caps won the next faceoff. A backdoor pass attempt from Bäckström to Ovechkin very narrowly missed connections.RIstolainen took a puck away from Kuznetsov and skated it down the ice. Defensive zone support by Brown killed three separate plays and the Flyers killed off the rest of the penalty.
4) The Capitals seemed to be taking over the game early in the second period until Philly struck in quick succession for the van Riemsdyk and Allison goals. Hart and the penalty kill personnel were the standouts as the period progressed. Also, John Tortorella deserves kudos for sticking with Frost and keeping his line together; they responded with four bonafide scoring chances and a goal.
Second period shots were 14-10 Capitals. Shot attempts were 29-17 Washington. Scoring chances 11-10 Flyers and high-danger chances were 6-5 Caps. Through two periods, the Flyers blocked 17 shots led by three apiece from Seeler and Allison. Also, in addition to his goal, Allison was credited with five hits through 40 minutes.
5) The Capitals came out attacking again in the third period.Frost was swarmed in the defensive zone but escaped 1-on-3 to skate the puck to safety.
At 3:55, MacEwen blocked a rebound followup of an Eller shot with Hart down and the puck in the low slot. The Caps won the next draw, and Hart had to deny a Mantha shot. Immediately thereafter, Oshie kept an offensive play going down low. Sheary attempted a stuff-in and then Hart denied a chance for Jensen. The Flyers iced the puck at 4:52. Shots were 6-2 Caps.
Sanheim stole a puck from Kuznetsov and skated it down the ice. Moments later, Konecny made a slick play to set up Farabee from a prime chance. Immediately on the next shift, Washington had another flurry of scoring chances around Hart. The Flyers' goalie stopped a Mantha deflection, and then denied shots through traffic by Martin Fehervary and Gustafsson.
At the whistle, Koceny took a pop at Oshie, who responded with a two-handed slash. Coincidental minors were called at 8:39 and the teams skated 4-on-4. The Flyers got caught flat-footed and Hart stopped a Mantha shot from the bottom of the right circle. At the other end, Kuemper held onto an unscreened DeAngelo shot for a stoppage. Cates won the ensuing faceoff, and Kuemper had to deal with a screened Sanheim shot.Shots were 13-4 Caps.
Konecny took a puck away from a Caps player and tucked in deep with about 6:30 left in the third period. On the next shift, Kuemper made saves on Frost and JVR. Just on the ice to replace Frost, Laughton drew a tripping penalty on Johansson at 14:35 to create a Flyers' power play.
The Flyers went with two defensemen and three forwards on the ensuing power play. Konecny had a shot attempt from the deep slot. Hathaway had a shorthanded attempt at the other end.
With play back at five-on-five, Hayes set up a one-timer from the slot for Cates. Laughton then killed an attack at the blueline. With 2:15 left and Kuemper pulled for an extra attacker, Laughton had a step on
The Caps pulled Kuemper again for a 5-on-5. Ovechkin had two separate cracks at a goal. With 15.9 seconds left, Konecny iced the puck in attempting a long-range empty netter. The Caps now had a brief 6-on-5. A last gasp attempt fell short and time expired.
Third period shots on goal were 19-9 Capitals. Shot attempts were a 34-14 Washington. Scoring chances were 19-6 Capitals with a 12-1 high-danger edge. The Flyers came up with eight blocks to finish with 25, including a late-game block the Provorov.
