The Philadelphia Flyers snapped their 6-game losing streak and finally earned their first win on their franchise-long 8-game home-stand as they took down the Washington Capitals. The Capitals beat the Flyers 9 days ago to kickstart the home-stand, but Cam Atkinson, Claude Giroux, and Carter Hart each played a part in the 2-1 victory. Atkinson scored a goal and added an assist, Giroux scored the game’s first goal 11 seconds in, and Carter Hart made 27 saves as he recorded his 10th win of the season.
FIRST PERIOD
With Joel Farabee, Derick Brassard, and Carter Hart returning to the lineup, the Flyers lineup is slowly returning to normalcy. It seemed like that was enough for the team to be amped for puck drop because the Flyers scored the first goal of the game only 11 seconds in.
Off the opening face-off, Ivan Provorov banked it off the boards towards Joel Farabee who chipped it into the offensive zone. Cam Atkinson won his puck battle as he out-muscled and out-paced Martin Fehervary. He then dropped a quick pass to Claude Giroux who ripped a wrist shot past Ilya Samsonov. It was his 17th of the season and 290th as a Flyer, which tied him for 8th in franchise history with Eric Lindros.
The following shift, Isaac Ratcliffe was called for a tripping penalty, which perfectly followed the tradition of the Flyers giving up a quick goal after scoring one themselves. However, the 26th-ranked Capitals power play weren’t able to do much with their chance outside of a John Carlson slap shot that hit the post.
The first half of the period belonged to the Flyers, who were pressuring the Capitals with their aggressive forecheck, had several scoring opportunities, and even killed off a penalty with relative ease. However the Capitals pushed back more and more and were starting to take over, at least in terms of momentum. Whenever there’s a lull, you can expect something from Zach MacEwen as he dropped the gloves with Tom Wilson.
MacEwen reignited the Flyers earlier in the week against the Hurricanes with a fight, however this time around he was was given the extra 2 minutes for roughing. Fortunately for the Flyers, the Capitals power play is a shell of its former self. With the penalty coming to a close, Rasmus Ristolainen laid out a big hit behind the net, followed the puck and cleared it off the boards, which lead to an odd-man rush for the Flyers.
With Derick Brassard coming out of the box, the Flyers had an abbreviated 3 on 2 rush with Atkinson bull-dozing his way into the zone. He played give-and-go with Scott Laughton, with the latter’s pass attempt being deflected by the Capitals defender. The puck bounced off the stick, skate, and then stick again of Conor Sheary and right to Atkinson who continued skating towards the net. It was his 18th of the season, good for the team lead, and second point of the period.
The Flyers with another top notch penalty kill, regathered their early momentum as they headed into the first intermission with a 2 goal lead; only the second time in the last 21 games they held a lead going into the second period.
SECOND PERIOD
The second period was topsy-turvy with both teams firing chances at will. The Capitals had scoring chances from Garnet Hathaway and Alex Ovechkin, while the Flyers had a few from Gerry Mayhew and Travis Konecny. The Flyers regained momentum as the period was going but it was taken away after Isaac Ratcliffe was called for his second penalty of the game.
T.J. Oshie, playing in his second game since January 15th, cut the deficit in half with a quick power play tally. It only took the Capitals 14 seconds to win the face-off, set up, and score as Evgeny Kuznetsov, who was behind the net, found Nicklas Backstrom along the boards, who then made a quick pass to Oshie in the bumper spot for a quick one timer.
Just a little over two minutes after the Capitals scored, they almost tied the game as Joe Snively was absolutely robbed by Carter Hart’s glove.
In another bid to tie the game, Evgeny Kuznetsov tried jamming one home after a making a move on Patrick Brown, but Hart cut off the angle and stood his ground as the Capitals continued with their barrage.
As Ratcliffe did for the Flyers, Nic Dowd was called for a ticky-tack offensive zone penalty which mitigated the Capitals momentum for the time being. Not much happened in the first 1:11 seconds with the Capitals doing great work along the boards to keep the Flyers from setting up.
Fortunately, Martin Fehervary pushed Konecny into the net and was called for an interference minor, which gave the Flyers a 5 on 3 advantage for 49 seconds. Unfortunately, the Flyers weren’t able to do much with the opportunity as the Capitals kept them to the outside and blocked anything that came their way.
THIRD PERIOD
The third period had a tentative feel to it because the Flyers were seemingly sitting back trying to defend, instead of going on the offensive and increasing their lead. The Capitals were in and around the Flyers crease for the first half of the period but only 2 shots hit the net, however they were testers for Hart. The first shot was in close in the blue paint where he had to extend his leg, while the second one bounced and changed directions at the last second.
The Flyers didn’t officially record their first shot of the period until the 13 minute mark but they got 3 scoring chances in quick succession. James van Riemsdyk fired a snap shot with the rebound opportunities coming from Brassard and Mayhew. A few minutes before the barrage, Keith Yandle took a slap shot that hit the post but had it gone in, there was a good chance it would’ve been taken back for goaltender interference.
With 2 minutes left in the third period, the Capitals pulled Samsonov and almost immediately, Atkinson had a chance to ice the game but his attempt towards the empty net just missed from centre ice. With just over a minute left in regulation, Atkinson looked to have a breakaway towards the empty net but it was called back for him playing the puck with a high stick. Finally set up in the offensive zone with the extra attacker, Kuznetsov was robbed twice, Carlson missed the net, and Ovechkin had 2 shots blocked as the Flyers pulled off the victory.
UP NEXT
Up next for the Flyers are the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center on the fifth game of the home-stand.
