March 11 vs. Philadelphia Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT, TNT, TruTV, HBO MAX
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
Washington Capitals (32-26-7)
Philadelphia Flyers (29-23-11)
The Caps open up a midweek set of back-to-back games on Wednesday night in Philadelphia. After facing the Flyers, the Caps will veer off in a northwesterly direction for a Thursday night battle in Buffalo against the Sabres.
Wednesday’s game in Philly continues a busy week in which Washington plays four games in six nights; the back-to-back road set is sandwiched between a pair of home games. The Caps won the first of those home games on Monday night, defeating the Calgary Flames by a 7-3 count. They’ll finish the stretch Saturday afternoon when they host the Boston Bruins.
Monday’s win over the Flames halted a three-game slide (0-3-0) for the Capitals, who squandered a 3-0 first-period lead in the game, yielding three Calgary goals – two of them shorthanded on the same Washington power play – in a span of less than three minutes during the final four minutes of the middle frame.
But the Washington power play bounced back in the third period when Connor McMichael scored his second goal of the game – and his first power-play goal since Oct. 25 – to restore the Capitals’ lead for good.
“It says a lot,” says McMichael, of the power play’s ability to bounce back and help the team to a crucial pair of points. “It says a lot about our character. Our unit had a little meeting on the bench there, [saying] just keep it simple, support each other, lots of talk, and get pucks to the net. And that’s exactly how we scored.”
Washington’s seven-goal offensive outburst was its largest since a 7-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 5. Monday night’s eruption was fueled by youth; four different players – McMichael, Hendrix Lapierre, Justin Sourdif and Ryan Leonard – under the age of 26 scored for the Capitals. It’s the first time the Caps have achieved that distinction since a Nov. 1, 2019 game in which Jakub Vrana (twice), Chandler Stephenson, Brendan Leipsic and Tom Wilson scored in a 6-1 win over Buffalo at Capital One Arena.
To tie that all up with a bow, Wilson – now weeks from his 32nd birthday – scored one of the other goals in Monday’s win.
To maximize the impact of Monday’s win, it’s imperative that the Caps start stacking victories together. They’re down to 17 remaining games on the season, and their challenge is going to be to pick up approximately three-quarters of the points remaining on the table if they hope to slip into a playoff spot.
Washington’s focus now has to be entirely on the Flyers and Wednesday’s game, the third meeting between the two Metropolitan Division rivals since the beginning of February. The Caps and Flyers split the first two meetings, with each team taking a two-goal decision in its own building.
“It's a resilient group,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of his team. “Even though we've had our struggles and our moments through the year that haven't gone as planned, you still can't question the character of our group as a whole. They genuinely want to do the right things and care and play hard and compete, and they're gamers in there. So, I never have any doubt in my mind, as the head coach of this hockey team, whether our guys are just going to lay down; our team will not do that, no matter the circumstances.
“These guys are not just going to quit and mail it in; it will not happen with our group ever. We might still lose the game, but we will not throw in the towel, and it will not look like a group that's just not competing. It won't happen, and that's the character of our group. Our guys are going to continue to battle and continue to be resilient even when things don't go their way, even when they struggle and we have a very, very poor second period. It’s ‘Okay, Carbs, we’ve got it. Let's reset and we're going to go out and we're going to compete our butts off, and we're going to play the right way.’ And that's what they did [Monday].
“Moving forward, we'll just continue to do that. We're not worried about the standings. We just need to do everything we can to play well in Philly; Buffalo doesn't matter. Anything else doesn't matter. Doesn't matter who won tonight, who wins tomorrow. All that matters is us finding a way to get two points in Philly.”
Washington fell 4-2 to the Flyers here on Feb. 3, a game that was the second in as many nights for the Capitals. In the first game after the Olympic break for both teams, the Caps evened up the season series with a 3-1 win over the Flyers in Washington on Feb. 25.
Since the two teams last met, the Flyers have won four of six (4-2-0) games, with three of the four victories coming in overtime or a shootout. Philadelphia won each of its first three games following its recent loss to the Caps, authoring its first winning streak of at least three games since a three-game streak from Nov. 26-29.
Most recently, the Flyers absorbed a 6-2 beating at the hands of the Rangers in New York on Monday night. As the Caps and Flyers take the ice on Wednesday in Philadelphia, Washington owns a two-point lead over Philly in the Metro standings, but the Flyers hold two games in hand.
Washington and Philadelphia finish up their season series at Capital One Arena on the final night of this month.
