It was a very intense forty minutes because the Flyers and Capitals were battling it out to see who would get on board first on Saturday (May 8) evening in Washington D.C at Capital One Arena. The Flyers played amazing on the defensive side, as well as, their goaltender Alex Lyon where he came up clutch saving some big time plays, limiting the front line of the Capitals offense from scoring. He made a huge 38 saves on 40 shots faced, “He played the game extremely well,” Flyers Head Coach Alain Vigneault said postgame.
They battled and battled and at last Conor Sheary for Washington carried the Capitals to victory in overtime to get the victory. In the last period of play with 3:42 gone, it didn’t take long as the Flyers got on the board as Scott Laughton made an excellent wrist shot that went upstairs passing Capitals goaltender Craig Anderson’s left shoulder to put the Flyers in the drivers seat with a 1-0 lead.
In the third period both sides had the same mentality as the first two periods where they really attacked each other on both ends of the ice limiting scoring opportunities, but it was a Goaltenders duel apparently.
With less than 40 seconds left in regulation, the Capitals capitalized with a goal from Lars Eller with a one-timer slap shot to tie the game at one, thus ending Lyon’s bid for his first career NHL shutout.
Both teams entered overtime with chances at both ends of the ice. Lyon came up big giving his team a chance to steal the victory. However, Conor Sheary shot a puck through the wickets of Lyon, and the puck slowly crossed the blue line thus ending the game for a Capitals 2-1 victory. With the loss the Flyers are now 24-23-8 on the season with one game to go.
“I felt like I had a strong game,” Lyon said postgame. “I play the game to win. Just super frustrating. As good as you play you let a goal up with 40 seconds left, then in overtime.”
Extra Notes:
The Flyers have not won back to back games since March 29, 2021, and they will have to wait until next season too do such. Alex Lyon finishes the season with the highest Save percentage for Flyers Goaltenders at a rate of .893.
NEXT UP: Flyers will play their last game of their regular season on Monday (May 10) at the Wells Fargo Center against the 19-29-7 New Jersey Devils. You can see the game on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
