That was a disappointing game. The Philadelphia Flyers kicked things off with a 2-0 lead after the first period but allowed 5 unanswered goals as they dropped a pivotal 4-point divisional game against the Washington Capitals.
Bobby Brink opened the scoring less than 2 minutes into the game before Owen Tippett scored on the power play to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead heading into the intermission. Alexander Ovechkin, Sonny Milano, and John Carlson scored in the second period before Anthony Mantha and Dylan Strome scored back-breaking third period tallies at the start and end of the third period, respectively.
Charlie Lindgren continued his run of success against the Flyers as he made 24 saves for the victory while Samuel Ersson allowed 5 goals on 22 shots. Bobby Brink was also benched for the entire third period after John Tortorella was unhappy with his coverage on Carlson’s eventual game-winning goal.
The Flyers kicked off another back to back set this weekend starting with the Capitals on the road in a very important divisional matchup with a lot on the line. After dispatching the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 6-2 in their last game, the Flyers waived Cal Petersen, called up Felix Sandström and Ronnie Attard, and placed Rasmus Ristolainen and Jamie Drysdale on IR.
After an eventful few days, John Tortorella decided to roll with the same 12/6 lineup that worked so well on Tuesday, meaning Sean Couturier was back on the fourth line and Cam Atkinson in the press box. Samuel Ersson earned the start looking for his 18th win, Travis Konecny remained on the mend, while Attard was scratched after being called up.
As for the Capitals, they entered tonight’s game having gone 4-1-1 in their last 6 games and more importantly for the Flyers, they sat 6 points back with 2 games in hand in a very congested divisional and wild card race in the East. Charlie Lindgren earned the start, looking to improve on his 12-9-5 record, 2.85 GAA and .908 SV%, while Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome paced the club with 43 points apiece with the former tallying just 16 goals and the latter leading the team with 21.
FIRST PERIOD
Just as Monumental Sports’ Joe Beninati was saying on the home telecast how Bobby Brink earned the shootout winner the last time these two teams met, Brink finished off an open net after Charlie Lindgren robbed Morgan Frost initially. Owen Tippett jumped on an odd-man rush and decided to pass but while Frost was robbed, Brink walked in past Rasmus Sandin for his 2nd goal in as many games since being called up at the 1:52 mark.
At the 3:35 mark, Dylan Strome was nailed for a tripping minor, sending the bottom-ranked power play to work early. To their credit, it wasn’t a bad power play as they created a few chances but all from the outside and with very minimal traffic in front of the net against the 13th ranked penalty killing unit of the Capitals.
With 3:13 remaining, Tom Wilson was sent to the box for a tripping minor after he brought down Ryan Poehling at the Flyers blueline. With 24 seconds left in Wilson’s minor, Tippett ripped a hard shot from the faceoff dot for his 22nd of the season. Frost fed the puck to Egor Zamula at the point before the young Russian found Tippett wide open on the other side of the ice with Joel Farabee serving as the screen.
The period ended with the Flyers up 2-0 on the scoreboard, 11-5 on the shot counter, and outattempted the Capitals 25-10.
SECOND PERIOD
Alex Ovechkin rolled back the clock with a vintage goal off the faceoff to get the Capitals on the board with 15:24 remaining in the period. Hendrix Lapierre won the draw and Wilson beat Brink to the puck before he one-touched it to the captain for a howitzer glove-side for his 17th of the season, 48th against the Flyers, and goal number 839 of his career (58 away from passing Wayne Gretzky).
After Max Pacioretty was robbed on the breakaway, the Capitals regained control of the puck and ended up tying the game after Sonny Milano was able to stay with a rolling puck and chipped it over Samuel Ersson’s glove at the 9:56 mark of the second period.
With Washington turning it up a notch after Ovechkin’s tally, they hopped on their first power play of the night after Cam York was nailed for a tripping minor with 9:04 left to play. Ovechkin registered an early shot off the faceoff but the Flyers neutralized the threat the rest of the way, keeping the game tied.
With 5:11 left on the clock, Pacioretty was assessed a boarding minor after catching Nicolas Deslauriers from behind. After a brutal power play that saw the Flyers playing very passively, the Capitals claimed their first lead after John Carlson finished off a wraparound attempt with 2:15 left.
The Flyers allowed Ovechkin far too much time and space at the point, allowing him to assess the situation and pass it off to Sandin who fired the puck with a ton of traffic in front, which allowed Carlson to sneak around the net for his 5th of the season.
I’m not entirely sure what happened to the Flyers after a great start in the first 20 minutes. The Capitals completely took over in the middle frame, scoring 3 goals, outshooting the Flyers 9-5, and holding Philadelphia to just 3 shots in the final 17:46. John Tortorella was not pleased.
THIRD PERIOD
As expected with Tortorella fuming with Brink, he sat on the bench during the first round of line changes with Deslauriers starting with Hathaway and Poehling and Sean Couturier taking Brink’s spot with Tippett and Frost.
With 14:21 remaining in regulation, Sean Walker was nailed for a high-sticking minor against Nicolas Aubé-Kubel. Anthony Mantha gave the Capitals a 2-goal lead just 25 seconds into the power play after being left unmarked in the slot with Poehling coasting with two white jerseys behind the net.
As we came out of the TV timeout, we were quickly ushered into a scrum between Garnet Hathaway and Wilson. Wilson slashed Hathaway, Hathaway then slashed Wilson, and they got into each other’s faces before Hathaway dropped Wilson who missed the first punch. The referees gave each player 4 minutes for roughing.
Right after Couturier was robbed in tight by Lindgren, the Capitals jumped on an odd-man rush of their own and iced the game courtesy of Strome, who corralled the rebound and waited out Ersson for his 22nd of the season with 4:10 left.
Walker returned to the box for an interference minor with just 99 seconds left, and that would be all she wrote.
UP NEXT
The Flyers return to Wells Fargo Center tomorrow as they welcome the Ottawa Senators (7:00pm ET, NBCSP).
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