The Philadelphia Flyers came in to this game needing a win desperately as they had lost their last two games to the Capitals. Unfortunately, the Capitals locked the Flyers up and ended up sweeping the two game series in Philadelphia. In fact, the Capitals won three games over the Flyers in a week.
The Washington Capitals again dominated the early part of the game and despite giving up two goals in the third period, the Capitals secured a 5-4 victory.
It was a battle on both ends in the first four minutes of the opening period as both teams were fighting to get the lead.
The Capitals scored 4:40 in to the first period, as Daniel Sprong chipped the puck over Brian Elliot after pouncing on a rebound from a shot by Jakub Vrana. This made the score 1-0 Capitals.
Less than two minutes later, Brian Elliott gave up another weak rebound and Carl Hagelin poked the puck in to the net to give the Capitals a two goal lead.
With seconds left in the first period, the Capitals came really close to making it a 3-0 lead, but the Flyers got lucky as Brian Elliott saved the goal assisted by a quadruple doink that used a lot of the pipping of the net and shin guard of Brian Elliott to keep the puck out of the net.
2:36 in to the second period, James van Reimsdyk stole the puck from the Capitals and wristed a shot past Capitals goalie Ilya Samsonov to cut the Capitals lead to 2-1, “Yeah, I thought we did a lot of good things,” van Riemsdyk said after the game. “Ultimately, we’re playing a really good team and I think every time we made a mistake, they would capitalize on it. They were really patient I thought with the way they played. They definitely seemed to capitalize anytime that we made a mistake. The last few games we’ve played them, they’ve played well.”
A little over a minute later, the Capitals extended their lead back to two goals on a goal by Nic Jensen. Jensen out raced the Flyers and wristed a shot past Brian Eliott from the right face off circle.
Nolan Patrick ripped one through Capitals goalie Ilya Samsonov on a great slap shot from the right side that cut the Capitals lead to one again with 14:13 left in the second period.
Travis Sanheim took a holding penalty 11:48 into the second period.On the ensuing power play, the Capitals controlled the puck and Capital sniper Alex Ovechkin fired a wicked shot that hit the back of the net to the right of Brian Elliot to give the Capitals a 4-2 lead.
The Capitals took a 5-2 lead early in the third period after Nic Dowd tipped in a Garnet Hathaway slap shot.
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It looked like the game was over, but the Flyers showed resilience and got back into the game.
The Flyers went on a power play with 7:55 left in the game and they got their third goal of the night by a beautiful wrist shot by Shayne Gostisbehere from the left point. That cut the Capitals lead to two.
With their goalie pulled, Claude Giroux took a cross ice pass from Jakub Voracek and one timed it in to the net to make the score 5-4 Capitals. The Flyers continued to pressure the Capitals but were unable to tie the game at five.
The Flyers are now 13-9-3 on the season.
NEXT UP: The Flyers are off on Sunday, March 14th before they travel to Madison Square Garden to take on the 11-12-3 New York Rangers for two games starting on Monday, March 15th on NBCSN and NBC Sports Philadelphia. Puck drop on Monday is slated for a 7:30pm EST start time.
