The Washington Capitals defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Thursday night at Capital One Arena. After being the las team to clinch a playoff spot a season ago, this year's model of the Caps are the first team in the NHL to punch their ticket to the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Playoffs: CLINCHED
Alex Ovechkin struck first at 14:25 for his 35th goal of the season. Aliaksei Protas and Trevor van Riemsdyk had the set up for their 33rd and 17th assists, respectively. This was an Ovi slam dunk goal right in front of the net. Huge pass by Protas to bring his goal total to 888. He is now seven away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's goal scoring record.
Brandon Duhaime doubled the lead at 1:56 as he tipped in a shot from Matt Roy. It was Duhaime's eighth goal of the season. Roy picked up his 20th assist while newcomer Anthony Beauvillier notched his eighth.
At 11:06 Andrew Mangiapane made it 3-0 as Beauviller had the assist for his ninth. It brought up Mangipane's goal total to 12 on the season.
In the third period Ryan Poehling scored at 5:10. Then Sean Couturier made it a one goal deficit at 17:24. Charlie Lindgren stood tall to pick up the win and the first star of the game. He had a .964 save percentage on the night. Caps were outshot 16-2 in just the third period.
The Caps led in shots 6-5 in the first and 8-7 in the second period. Overall the Flyers had the edge in shots 28-16. Face off wins were even at 50 percent for both teams. Both teams came up empty on their power plays as the Flyers went 0 for 2 and the Caps went 0 for 1. Caps were outhit 18-13.
Blocked shots were even at 13. Caps had 20 giveaways while the Flyers had 16. Caps had six takeaways compared to the Flyers four. Even though the Caps got outplayed in the third period, they held on and now their ticket is punched to the playoffs.
"Our goal was to make the playoffs this year. Every game, it's hard, especially at the end because every team is fighting. That's why in the beginning of the year and the middle of the year it's very important to (be) collecting points and feel comfortable at the end. Last year it took us 82 games to clinch it and since (there were) 20 games left it was (like) playoffs for us already. We take it and move on. "Alex Ovechkin
Next up for the Caps is a home game on Saturday evening at 5 p.m. against the Florida Panthers. You can catch the game on Monumental Sports Network as well as 106.7 The Fan and Caps Radio 24/7.