It was a nerve wracking first two periods as the Washington Capitals dominated the game and did a great job getting scoring chances and were able to take a 4-1 lead. Once the third period hit, the Flyers got into Ilya Sasmovov’s head and got two goals that made the score 4-3 Capitals. Unfortunately, the Capitals scored an empty net goal and won 5-3.
Just eight minutes in the opening period, Alex Ovechkin picked up the puck after a misplay by the Flyers defensemen and whistled a slap shot past Brian Elliott to make it 1-0 Capitals.
Capitals Brendon Dillon went to the penalty box for interference and the Flyers had a chance to go to the power play. Travis Konecny scored on a beautiful pass Shayne Gostisbehere to tie the game up at 1. The goal was scored just after Kevin Hayes hit the crossbar.
Less than two minutes later, the Capitals jumped back up to a 2-1 lead when Conor Sheary (assisted by Daniel Spring) scored his 6th goal of the year with a fantastic breakaway goal that went through Flyers goalie Brian Elliot’s legs.
In the second period, Travis Konecny went to the penalty box for two minutes for tripping Capitals Nick Jensen. The Capitals didn’t get anything accomplished during that power play opportunity, as the Flyers penalty kill stepped up in a big way.
The Capitals took a two goal lead on a great looking goal by John Carlson. Carlson took a pass from Jacon Vrana in the slot and beat Eliot with a snap shot. However, the Flyers old habits wreaked on this goal. Carlson was wide open in the slot with no Flyers defenseman in sight.
The misery continued for the Flyers as the Capitals weren’t done scoring in the second period. Nic Dowd (assisted by Zdeno Chara) drove to the net along the left side and cut to the middle and put the puck off a Flyers skate and into the net. This gave the Capitals a three goal lead.
Fortunately, for the Flyers the second period was called off with 1:29 left as one of the boards was cracked and both teams had to go back to their locker rooms. The final part of the second period was played as part of the third period.
1:43 in to the third period, Flyers Sean Courturier made a great pass to Ivan Provorov to get a great goal from it to make the score 4-2 Capitals.
With less than 10 minutes left, Scott Laughton took a pass from Kevin Hayes and whipped a shot that ricocheted off the right post and into the goal to cut the Caps lead to 1.
The Capitals gave the Flyer a great chance to even the score at four with a penalty for too many men on ice. The Flyers had some great shots on goal but the Capitals defense was did not let a goal in.
Capitals Nic Dowd got a chance to secure the win as he chucked down the puck the full length of the rink in to the empty net which gave them the two goal lead and the win 5-3. “We have to be better” Flyers Scott Laughton said following the game. “The loss falls on me” Flyers Head Coach Alain Vigneault said following the game.
The Flyers fall to 13-8-3 on the season. They will play the Capitals again on Saturday evening, March 13th at the Wells Fargo Center with puck drop just after 7 PM EST on ESPN+ and NBC Sports Philadelphia.
