The Philadelphia Flyers’ losing streak reached 6 games after they were defeated 6-3 against the Washington Capitals.
After the Capitals took a 4-0 lead midway through the second period, in large part because of 3 goals in a span of 5 minutes, the Flyers mounted a vicious comeback that just fell short. They had several chances but could never get the game tied as 4-3 was as close as they would come.
Matvei Michkov and Owen Tippett each scored a goal and an assist, Jamie Drysdale recorded 2 assists, and Travis Konecny added a tally of his won. Ivan Fedotov allowed 4 goals on 24 shots for his 3rd loss in as many games.
Looking for answers, the slumping Flyers visited the nation’s capital to complete the home-and-home, back-to-back situation against the Capitals.
After winning their season opener against the Vancouver Canucks via a shootout, the Flyers have dropped 5 straight contests and have looked no worse for wear. They are coming off the heels of consecutive home defeats with just one goal to show for it and some of their top performers remain with a goal like Owen Tippett, Morgan Frost, and Sean Couturier.
John Tortorella, who has juggled his lineup as many times as humanely possible, made one roster change as he brought Tyson Foerster back in for Bobby Brink and with this being the second game of their back-to-back, Ivan Fedotov got the nod. As expected, the lines went through the blender yet again.
The Capitals, on the other hand, have done the complete opposite as the Flyers. They suffered a loss during their season opener but they have followed it up with 4 consecutive victories, including Tuesday’s 4-1 win at Wells Fargo Center. Logan Thompson earned his 3rd start of the season and the Capitals returned to the ice with an unchanged lineup.
FIRST PERIOD
With the Capitals buzzing early, they scored the game’s opening goal at the 4:50 mark after Taylor Raddysh deflected home a slap-pass from Rasmus Sandin at the point. They cycled brilliantly, got bodies to the front of the net, and most importantly they blocked Fedotov’s view to take the early lead with a 5-0 shot advantage.
With 13:40 remaining in the first period, the Flyers jumped on their first power play of the night, not only looking to tie the game, but to record their first shot as well after Dylan McIlrath was nailed for a high-sticking minor. The Flyers did record just one shot on goal but unfortunately generated almost no pressure at all.
The rest of the first period was a snooze-fest with the Capitals taking a 1-0 lead into the intermission with a 6-3 shot advantage.
SECOND PERIOD
27 seconds into the middle frame, Nic Dowd was called for a holding minor, however during the delayed call Nicolas Deslauriers came within inches of tying the game but he clanged the puck off the post.
The first unit played the entire 2 minutes but weren’t able to do much other than 2 shots on goal.
As the penalty expired, the Capitals took advantage of the tired bodies from the first unit and set up shop in the offensive zone before doubling their lead. Dowd fired a shot through the screen of Morgan Frost and through the body of Fedotov at the 2:53 mark of the second period.
The Capitals then added another tally 75 seconds later with Connor McMichael finishing off his breakaway attempt high glove-side past Fedotov. McIlrath was able to get the puck out of the zone to Pierre-Luc Dubois, who then quickly sent a backhanded pass to McMichael and he had all the time in the world to beat Fedotov – who bit too early – with every white jersey caught napping.
McMichael then added his second tally in just over 3 minutes after he deflected a slap-pass from Trevor van Riemsdyk from the point. Fedotov was trying to battle through screens before van Riemsdyk’s shot, which clearly cost him positionally as he was beaten easily once again.
The Flyers went back to the power play for the third time at the 10:48 mark of the period after Dubois was nailed for a roughing minor. Tom Wilson and Nick Seeler then got into a spirited pushing match during the whistle and shared several words with one another before heading to their respective benches.
With 44 seconds remaining on the minor and 7:56 in the period, Travis Konecny got the Flyers on the board after he wired a shot high over the shoulder of a cheating Logan Thompson. Konecny who was robbed before the power play, earned his 3rd goal of the season with assists coming from Matvei Michkov and Jamie Drysdale.
Tyson Foerster was then called for a delay of game penalty after he covered the puck with his hand at the neutral zone, sending the Capitals onto their first power play of the night with 6:22 remaining. The Flyers survived the kill primarily due to Fedotov robbing Dubois twice in front of the net.
Similarly to the Capitals earlier in the period, the Flyers scored right after their penalty kill, with Owen Tippett firing a quick shot through traffic in front of Thompson with 3:44 remaining. Travis Sanheim came very close to scoring just earlier off a deflection from the Capitals but they rallied, cycled, and started to fire pucks towards the net.
With the Flyers trapped in their own zone for over 2 minutes, Frost stole the puck at the blue-line and raced in on a breakaway before tucking the puck through Thompson’s five-hole. Fortunately for Thompson and the Capitals, the puck never crossed the line and kept the score at 4-2.
On the very next shift, Michkov, Konecny, and Sean Couturier came even closer to cutting the deficit in half but Thompson had all the answers, robbing all 3 players with the period coming to a close.
The Flyers found life in the latter half of the period, where they scored twice, almost scored a third goal on numerous occasions, and even took the lead on the shot clock with a 19-15 edge through 40 minutes – 16-9 in the period.
THIRD PERIOD
25 seconds into the final frame, Michkov was nailed for an interference minor against Wilson. The Flyers survived the kill thanks in part to some critical blocked shots, primarily from Ryan Poehling, who hobbled back to the bench and eventually found his way to the locker room after he was hit by a John Carlson bomb from the point.
After a great setup from Konecny, Garnet Hathaway came close to cutting the deficit to 1 but his net-front opportunity was stopped by the glove of Thompson. Hathaway had stumbled seconds before but he got up just in time to get his shot off.
With both teams playing at 4-on-4, the Flyers jumped on an abbreviated 4-on-3 power play after Drysdale was taken down by Dubois. With just one second remaining, Michkov wired a shot past Thompson with Couturier screening the goaltender, cutting the deficit to 4-3 with 13:24 remaining.
With a shade over 7 and a half minutes remaining, Frost almost caught Thompson and the Capitals napping but his wraparound attempt went off the heel of the skate, once again keeping the score at 4-3. Had he taken one more step forward, he would have most likely been able to tuck it in instead.
With 4:57 left in regulation, the Capitals jumped back onto the power play after Frost was found guilty of holding call in the offensive zone. Right off the face-off, Poehling was stung by another shot off the stick of Carlson but the Flyers survived the kill that included a save for Fedotov on Alex Ovechkin’s patented one-timer.
With 2:26 remaining, the Flyers pulled the goalie, but the Flyers fumbled the bag with a horrible line change right outside of the blue-line and the Capitals iced the game with Dubois scoring through Michkov’s wickets.
Egor Zamula was heading off for a change but he was also facing Drysdale – who had the puck – which led him to believe he was available for a pass. As he fed him the puck, Zamula was halfway into the bench, and his replacement didn’t want to touch the puck due to a too many men call. Game over.
With the net empty again, Ovechkin then scored his 2nd of the season and 855th of his career with 70 seconds left to give the Capitals a 6-3 lead and the subsequent victory.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will take on the Minnesota Wild on Saturday (1:00pm ET, NBCSP) at Wells Fargo Center.
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