It was what the Flyers were looking for as they blasted off with a win over the Washington Capitals on Super Bowl Sunday in Washington D.C. The return of Sean Couturier sparked the Flyers to the win.
The Capitals started out quickly and took a 2-0 lead in the first period. With 8:49 left in the opening period Capitals Alex Ovechkin scored a power play goal, assisted by Lars Eller and Tom Wilson, that hit Carter Hart’s left shoulder and landed in the net. With less than five minutes left in the period, the Capitals, Ovechkin made a spectacular move around a Flyer and passed to Tom Wilson to make it 2-0 Capitals.
After the Capital’s tornado like start, the Flyers got back on track with a late first period goal by Scott Laughton, assisted by Erik Gustafsson and Joel Farabee to make the score 2-1 Capitals going into the second period.
Two minutes into the second period, a Scott Laughton wrist shot tied the game at two. It didn’t take long for Capitals to regain the lead as Alex Ovechkin scored on a long slap shot that hit the right goal post past Carter Hart and the ricocheted back off Hart and into the net. Just after the Flyers failed to score on a power play, Robert Hägg tied the game on a screaming slap shot that was aided by a screen by Michael Raffl who had more ups than Michael Jordan. It was Robert Hägg’s first goal of the season for him. The Flyers offense kept thriving as James van Riemsdyk put one in the upper right corner of the net for a goal that put the Flyers in the front seat with a 4-3 lead. Capitals tied the game on a Nicolas Backstrom goal which ended up going through Carter Hart’s legs and deflecting off his skate to tie the game at four.
Question: Did Michael Raffl have more ups than Michael Jordan on this goal? You be the judge!!!!
The Flyers didn’t waste any time at the start of the third period as Sean Couturier scored his first goal of the year 31 seconds in. The Capitals killed off a 4 minute penalty to Zdeno Chara and kept it close until Scott Laughton scored his third goal of the game to make it 6-4 Flyers. It was Laughton’s first hat trick. Couturier scored an empty net goal that sealed the 7-4 win for the Flyers.
The Flyers are now 8-3-2 on the season. This was a huge win for them and a great job by Carter Hart in the net to stick with it.
NEXT UP: Flyers look to go two for two against the Capitals on Tuesday, February 9th. Puck drop is at 6 PM EST on ESPN+ and NBC Sports Philadelphia.
