The Philadelphia Flyers dropped their second straight vs the Washington Capitals in Philadelphia. Losing 5-3 Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Unlike Sunday, it would be the Washington Capitals who would come out hot. Pinning the Flyers in their own zone for most of the opening 10-minutes. Which would lead to the opening goal.
Alex Ovechkin would get goal #38 against the Flyers. Brian Elliott decided to pass the puck instead of leaving it for Sean Couturier. Elliott’s pass handcuffed Ivan Provorov & the puck went right to Ovechkin. Who fired one by Elliott off the far post.
But, the Flyers would respond on the power-play. Yes, the power-play.
Travis Konecny would tie the game. Shayne Gostisbehere’s point shot would ricochet off the end boards right to Kevin Hayes. Who would immediately pass it to Konecny. Who fired one by Ilya Samsonov from the high slot.
However, just 1:54 later, another Flyers turnover, their 5th of 7-turnovers in the 1st period, would lead to a Capitals goal.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel blindly dropped a pass to a vacated spot by Travis Sanheim. Daniel Sprong would get to the puck & spring Conor Sheary on the break-away. Sheary fire one through the five-hole of Brian Elliott.
It wouldn’t get any better for the Flyers in the 2nd period. A lazy transition & another bad bounce would lead to Capitals goals.
Claude Giroux & Jake Voracek would get caught in the Capitals zone & “dog-it” back into their own zone. In doing so, it would leave John Carlson, who skated hard & beat both Giroux and Voracek up the ice, wide open in the high slot for the goal.
Then, just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, another bounce didn’t go in the Flyers favor. Nic Dowd would skate around a tired Travis Sanheim. Dowd would be poke-checked by Brian Elliott. But, the puck would then deflect off of Shayne Gostisbehere & into the net.
After a broken piece of glass ended the 2nd period early, the Flyers would use the final 1:29 to get their legs & start their comeback.
With the 3rd period officially started, the Flyers would get one back just 1:43 in. Ivan Provorov would go bar-down & beat Ilya Samsonov high over the blocker.
Just over the halfway point, the “mustache” line would get the Flyers within one. King of the Mustache, Scott Laughton, would also go high & beat Ilya Samsonov over the blocker.
However, the Flyers comeback would come up one short. Nic Dowd would get an empty netter with 28-seconds left to seal the Capitals win.
Brian Elliott stopped 17 of the 21 shots he faced in the losing effort.
Loose Pucks…
– For the second time this season, head coach Alain Vigneault is sending a message to Phil Myers by sitting him as a healthy scratch. The young defenseman is currently struggling to find his spot in the lineup. Something Vigneault said was because “he’s (Myers) just not consistent. We expect him to be better than he’s shown so far.”
– On his 24th birthday, Travis Konecny gave himself a nice birthday present. Scoring on the power-play in the 1st period. Konecny finished with a goal & an assist in 16:18 TOI.
– Keeping it simple is the message head coach Alain Vigneault continues to preach. However, his team continues to do the opposite. Tonight, costing them 2-goals from turnovers from trying to make the more risker play. The Flyers finished the night with -turnovers. Seven of which came in the 1st period.
– One thing the Capitals do extremely well is clogging the neutral zone. Something that not only caused the Flyers havoc on Sunday, but as well tonight. Which was a reason why the Flyers had 13-turnovers, eight of which in the neutral zone. Kevin Hayes said “have to get pucks in deep” on Saturday.
Result : Flyers 3 – Capitals 5 , LOSS
Record : 13 – 8 – 3
Next Game : 3/13 Washington Capitals, Philadelphia PA, 7:00pm
Photo Credit : Len Redkoles – Getty Images
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