Washington Capitals drop Saturday night contest to Flyers

The Washington Capitals dropped a 2-1 contest to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night at Capital One Arena. The Caps donned their blue W jerseys for this contest but couldn’t match the sweet look with the on ice play.

The first period was scoreless as the Flyers led in shots 12-6. The Flyers then got two goals in the second period first from Derick Brassard at 11:18 and then Sean Couturier at 15:44. 2-0 was the score after two periods with the Flyers leading in shots 14-11 in the second period.

The Caps were better in the third period outshooting the Flyers 15-6 to make total shots even at 32 apiece. They just couldn’t get the equalizer. The rookies had a nice play though to get the Caps on the board.

John Carlson fed Connor McMichael. McMichael went down the ice and did a no look backdoor pass by the goal to Brett Leason for the second of his career at 6:02. 2-1 would be the final score.

That goal was the result of an all rookie line that Peter Laviolette constructed entering the third period. It was a trio featuring Hendrix Lapierre, McMichael and Leason.

Leason told the media after the game:

"“It’s definitely in your mind because we’re all young, we’re all trying to prove something here. But I think it’s just the coach is calling us at that time and you’ve got to go out and do what we can to help the team.”"

Laviolette added:

"“I thought in the third, that line was good. I thought we got going a little bit more.”"

The Caps are banged up with T.J. Oshie, Anthony Mantha, and Nicklas Backstrom all injured. It’s given these rookies the chance to prove themselves. The third period sparked a comeback and it came from changes that even one of our contributors clamored for, giving the youth more playing time.

The Caps host the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow night.