Capitals defeat Flyers in shootout
The Washington Capitals got off to a strong start, took their foot off the gas a little bit, but kept their composure and left Philadelphia with a 2-1 win over the Flyers.
The Washington Capitals won this game over the Philadelphia Flyers in a shootout. The 60 minutes of hockey plus five minute overtime had the feel you would expect from a Metropolitan Division rivalry game. Plenty of hits on both sides and plenty of fireworks.
The win extended Washington’s point streak to 13 games, a stretch dating all the way back to Oct. 16 in their win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. It also snapped Philadelphia’s four-game winning streak.
At 6:13 in the opening period the Capitals got on the board. Working the puck around, Nic Dowd fed it to John Carlson at the top of the key. Carlson shot the puck and it was deflected in by Brendan Leipsic, his second goal in six games after going scoreless in his first 14.
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The Capitals played their best period of hockey in that first period. They thoroughly dominated play by outshooting the Flyers 16-5.
The second period was scoreless as the Capitals stood tall to preserve their 1-0 lead going into the final period. The Flyers outshot the Caps 12-6 and Washington killed off two power plays.
In the third period at 5:46, Dowd was called for tripping Matt Niskanen (Jakub Vrana served the penalty in the box) and the Flyers got on the board to tie the game with a power play goal from Claude Giroux. Coming down the ice, Jakub Voracek moved around Radko Gudas and fed Giroux for the quick snipe.
The game would require overtime with the score 1-1 after 60. The Caps outshot the Flyers 11-10 in the period and were outshot 4-3 in 3-on-3 overtime play. Nobody scored in the extra session sending the game into a shootout.
The Flyers elected to shoot first and Voracek missed the net. On the other end, T.J. Oshie scored. In the second round, Giroux evened things up before Evgeny Kuznetsov gave the Caps the lead.
One last chance for the Flyers to keep the game going lied on the stick of Sean Couturier but he missed the net as the Caps hung on for a 2-1 win. Braden Holtby made 30 saves off of 31 shots he faced for a .972 save percentage.
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The Capitals will return home to host the Montreal Canadiens this Friday night. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. from Capital One Arena.