Washington Capitals come up short against Flyers
The Washington Capitals dropped their third game in a row, falling to the Philadelphia Flyers on a Super Bowl Sunday matinee at Capital One Arena by a final of 7-4. They will meet again in a rematch Tuesday night.
The Caps got a power play when the Flyers were called for too many dues on the ice. At 11:11, Alex Ovechkin fired a bullet into the net from his office that went top shelf. Tom Wilson and Lars Eller had the assists.
The goal marked his fourth of the season and 261st career goal on the power play. He’s four shy of Brett Hull (265) for the second most power play goals in NHL history.
A few minutes later at 16:36, Ovechkin put on a filthy move past a defender and then found Nicklas Backstrom who deflected the puck right to Wilson for the slam dunk to put the Caps up 2-0.
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At 18:33 the Flyers got on the board with a goal from Scott Laughton. 2-1 would be the score after 20 with the Caps leading in shots 15-8.
Laughton scored at 2:29 of the second to tie the game. Ovechkin would match Laughton with his second goal of the game at 4:08. It came on a one timer from the point and was assisted by Backstrom and Wilson.
The Flyers would once again tie it with a goal from Robert Hagg at 7:50. James van Riemsdyk gave the Flyers the lead at 16:36. Backstrom would tie it at 19:03 with a backhanded flip into the net. Ovechkin and Wilson had the helpers.
The game would enter the final period tied at four. The Caps had the edge in shots 15-6 in the second period.
The Flyers would score three unanswered goals in the third period. They took the lead 31 seconds in on a goal from Sean Couturier. Laughton completed the hat trick at 17:51 and the Flyers sealed it with Couturier’s second of the game on an empty netter.
“We let in too many goals tonight. We scored enough to win. I thought we generated enough chances. I thought we could’ve scored more.”
Laviolette added:
“I thought we did a lot of good things offensively. I thought we did some good things defensively, but you’re going to give up some chances, and those chances aren’t directly pinned on a goaltender. … Sometimes you make a [goaltender] change to try and change the momentum of a game.”
Vitek Vanecek made his ninth straight start but was pulled late int he second period in favor of 39 year old Craig Anderson after he allowed four goals on 14 shots. Anderson finished with six saves.
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The Caps and Flyers will meet again on Tuesday night. Reminder that puck drop is at 6 p.m. not seven.