The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Washington Capitals 5-3 behind a Travis Konecny hat trick, improving to 7-3-0 in their last 10 games.
Konecny tied his career high with 24 goals, extended his point streak to 10 games – where he has scored 12 goals and 20 points, and is showing the NHL that he was a clear cut All-Star snub. Scott Laughton opened the scoring, Konecny scored goals 2, 4, and 5, which included the eventual game-winning goal while shorthanded, and Owen Tippett scored a critical goal in the third period that gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead. The Capitals made it interesting with 2 goals late in the period but the Flyers were able to shut the door, score the empty netter, and gather the victory after another impressive outing. Carter Hart made 26 saves, Darcy Kuemper made 31, and enough cannot be said about Konecny and Laughton.
The theme remains with the Philadelphia Flyers as they entered another game with an unchanged lineup as the sole exception comes in goal with Carter Hart returning between the pipes. Travis Konecny entered tonight’s game with the longest active point streak in the NHL at 9 games where he scored 9 goals and 17 points over that stretch. He remained on the wing of Noah Cates and Joel Farabee opposite him as they looked to build on their strong performance from Monday night’s 4-0 win against Buffalo. Joel Farabee scored a goal and recorded an assist – goals in 3 of his last 4 games – Noah Cates added a goal, and Travis Konecny recorded 2 assists.
As for the visiting Washington Capitals, they came into Philadelphia with a much different lineup than when they met the last time on the 7th of December. Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom had returned from the injured list and Darcy Kuemper will be tended the twine instead of Charlie Lindgren. Alexander Ovechkin scored 2 empty netters in that 4-1 win back in December and would be looking to add to his totals as he had gone 2 games without a goal after scoring 9 goals in his previous 6. The Capitals also won the first meeting back in November in overtime – once again courtesy of Ovechkin. This is also the first of a home and home with the Flyers visiting the nation’s capital on Saturday.
FIRST PERIOD
Within the first 4 minutes the Flyers supposed top line of Morgan Frost, Owen Tippett, and James van Riemsdyk created 3 scoring chances but only 1 made it on net. Morgan Frost had a glorious opportunity in the high slot but his shot went just wide, then he had one streaking in off the wing that also went wide, and then Nick Seeler’s point shot was deflected by Frost but handled by Darcy Kuemper. While the Frost line was humming for the Flyers, the Capitals responded back with several scoring chances as they had 5 within the first 6 minutes, all taken care of by Carter Hart, who was looking to avenge his efforts from Sunday night’s loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
7:13 into the first period, Owen Tippett was tripped up by Alexander Ovechkin as the Flyers were awarded the first power play of the hockey game. It only took the Orange and Black 13 seconds to convert as Scott Laughton’s point shot made it through a maze of players and then top shelf over Kuemper. Laughton originally won the faceoff, Tony DeAngelo handled the puck at the point before dishing it back to Laughton who waited, waited, and waited before firing a perfect shot top shelf for his 10th of the year and his 4th power play goal of the season and incidentally his career.
After an offensive zone miscue where an errant pass travelled past the pinching Ivan Provorov, Ovechkin found himself all alone with Carter Hart, looking for career goal #810, but goaltender trumped goal-scorer as he followed his deke and shut the door with his left pad. On the ensuing rush back into the offensive zone the Flyers drew another penalty, this time on Evgeny Kuznetsov for tripping at the 11:33 mark. They weren’t able to make it 2 for 2 but the silver lining was that both units were able to generate great scoring chances – something that hasn’t been said for some time as the power play has dropped yet again.
With 53 seconds remaining in the opening period, Garnet Hathaway – who always finds a way to get on the scoresheet against the Flyers – finished off a one-time feed from Nick Jensen. After being hemmed in their own zone for close to 2 minutes after a bad icing call mid-way through that shift, it seemed like the Flyers survived as the Capitals provided all the pressure but weren’t able to generate a shot on goal. In fact they hadn’t recorded one for close to 10 minutes. The fourth line for the Flyers had a good shift in the offensive zone but the Capitals transitioned so quickly from defence to offence that they caught the defence flat-footed and Hathaway made no mistake on the one-timer for his 6th of the season.
Fortunately the Flyers responded quickly, as 21 seconds later they regained the lead after Travis Konecny finished off a pass from Joel Farabee in the high slot for his 22nd of the season. Konecny and Farabee did a fantastic job along the boards to win the battle and corral the loose puck. Farabee from behind the net worked his magic as he fed Konecny – who went from boards to side of the net to slot – in the slot with 4 white jerseys surrounding him. His 22nd goal extended his point streak to 10 games and got him 2 goals closer to tying his career high that he hit in 3 consecutive seasons from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
The period ended with the Flyers up 2-1 on the scoreboard and 15-10 on the shot clock as they ended the latter half of the period with an 11-1 advantage. The Capitals scored on their first shot in close to 10 minutes as Ovechkin’s breakaway attempt was their 9th and penultimate shot of the period.
SECOND PERIOD
33 seconds into the second period, Travis Konecny was robbed on a 2-on-0 that was jump-started from the defensive zone after a Travis Sanheim takeaway. He poked the poked the puck at the blue-line, Joel Farabee nudged it forward, but unfortunately Sanheim made it too obvious that he was going to pass it to the streaking Konecny even though he elevated his shot. On the very next shift, Owen Tippett was all alone with Kuemper after a tic-tac-toe play from James van Riemsdyk and Ivan Provorov but his shot was blockered aside by the goaltender.
The pace of the second period was very reminiscent of the late 2000s and early 2010s when the rivalry was just beginning with Mike Richards leading the charge. End to end hockey, chances galore for both teams, goaltenders making save after save, few whistles, and every body check being finished to a tee. The Flyers held a 24-13 shot advantage past the midway mark of the second period and from that point – which spanned 20 game minutes – the Flyers were outshooting the Capitals 20-4. The Capitals were playing very aggressive and were looking to jettison on odd-man rushes whenever possible but the Flyers stymied two chances with great defensive plays, one from Sanheim who dove in the way of a Sonny Milano pass to Ovechkin, and another from DeAngelo who sticked down a pass attempt from T.J. Oshie.
With 5:21 remaining in the middle frame, Dmitry Orlov was called for a tripping minor, sending the Flyers back on the power play for the third time in the contest. The Capitals did a much better job on this penalty kill as the Flyers weren’t able to generate much of anything, in fact the Capitals had a few chances while shorthanded and controlled the puck for a lot of it. The final 5 minutes belonged to Washington as they were sniffing for the game tying goal and came close a few times but Carter Hart and their shot blocking came to the forefront whenever as they took the same 1 goal lead into the second intermission. The period ended with the Flyers up 2-1 and still leading in shots by a margin of 27-18.
THIRD PERIOD
The Capitals came within inches of tying the game on the opening shift of the third period but Alexander Ovechkin’s was robbed by the skate of Carter Hart. Joel Farabee initially got his stick on Ovechkin’s shot just in time to make it less impactful but it still made its way towards the net, but Hart stretched out just enough to keep the score 2-1. Then 5 minutes later (5:31 into the third period), Owen Tippett ripped a snapshot over the glove of Darcy Kuemper to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead. James van Riemsdyk made a great heads-up play in the defensive zone as he banked a pass to Tippett off the boards and #74 made absolutely no mistake as he recorded his 13th of the season – on his 6th shot of the night – and his second point of the game.
The Flyers were finally called for their first penalty of the game on the very next shift as Tony DeAngelo headed to the sin bin for a slashing minor with 13:22 remaining in regulation. He didn’t appreciate the hit that was delivered by Sonny Milano and took a retaliatory slashing penalty in response. 50 seconds into the man advantage, the dangerous shorthanded duo of Laughton and Konecny struck again with the latter finishing off the former’s pass through the five-hole of Kuemper. Provorov batted down a rim-around attempt, sent it out to Laughton who had Konencny on his wing, made a perfect pass over a diving defender, and Konecny found twine for his 23rd of the season, 2nd of the night, and the 8th shorthanded goal for the Flyers on the year.
Instead of clearing the puck off the boards or in the air, Ivan Provorov decided to attempt a pass instead and he threw it right to Marcus Johansson in the slot who made no mistake on the finish with the power play just coming to an end, as he cut the deficit back to 2. Provorov would have had to have thought that Johansson was a Flyer because a pass like that wouldn’t make sense any other way. It was his 11th of the season and gave the Capitals life again with 10:42 remaining.
With 8:24 left on the clock, Evgeny Kuznetsov was called for his second penalty of the game after he slashed Konecny in the Flyers defensive zone. The Flyers were way too cautious on the power play and it ended up biting them in the rear end as the Capitals were able to gather momentum and cut the deficit back to 1 shortly a minute after the penalty had expired. Nicklas Backstrom fed T.J. Oshie cutting into the slot, and he made a few dandy moves before finishing off the backhander top-shelf past Carter Hart with 5:18 left to play in regulation.
With the net empty and only 79 seconds remaining on the clock, the Capitals were forced into taking a tripping minor as Joel Farabee was about to streak towards the empty net. T.J. Oshie was the guilty culprit as the Capitals were humming in the offensive zone. Konecny had a chance to get his hat-trick before the penalty was called but no fear, as he iced the game and scored his hat-trick with 12 seconds remaining in the game as he slammed home a loose puck into the empty net for his 24th goal of the season – tying his career high – but let’s also not forget the effort from Scott Laughton who made the goal possible with his forechecking, aggression, and pass.
Just before Konecny scored, the Capitals took another penalty but it didn’t really matter as the Flyers sealed the victory in impressive fashion, beating their division rival 5-3 and ending their 7-game road winning streak.
UP NEXT
The Flyers and Capitals will have a rematch at Capital One Arena on Saturday night to close out their home-and-home series as well as their season series.
