Caps Face Flyers in Sunday Matinee

March 24 vs. Philadelphia Flyers at Capital One Arena
Time: 12:30 p.m.
TV:NBC
Radio:Capitals Radio 24/7, FAN 106.7
Philadelphia Flyers 36-31-8
Washington Capitals 43-24-8

The Caps are halfway through a late season four-game homestand, and they're still seeking their first win. After a 5-4 overtime loss to Tampa Bay on Wednesday and a 2-1 shaving at the hands of the Minnesota Wild on Friday, Washington will host the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday afternoon, finishing off the season's series between the two Metropolitan Division rivals.
In falling to the Wild on Friday, the Caps suffered their first set of consecutive setbacks in nearly two months, since Jan. 22-23. Washington has been able to keep a fairly steady diet of standings points coming in, and it has not suffered back-to-back losses in regulation since Jan. 18-20.
But in Friday's loss, the Caps missed out on a chance to put some distance between themselves and their pursuers in the Metropolitan Division. Washington was the only Eastern Conference team in action on Friday night, and it came within eight minutes of notching at least a point before Minnesota's Luke Kunin turned a Caps turnover into the game-winning goal.
"Unfortunately we didn't approach the game with that mindset," says Caps right wing T.J. Oshie, "the mindset that we could put some distance form us and the other teams. We were pretty bad [Friday] night. Minnesota did a good job of shutting things down, and they played hard and they played physical. But even passes that are easy, we were making hard.
"I don't want to say [we took] a step back, but we just kind of had a night off that you don't want to have. It would have been nice to put some distance between us and some other teams. We weren't able to do that, and hopefully these next couple of weeks we can sharpen up a little bit and get that important home ice."
Carl Hagelin missed Friday's game because of illness. He was back on the ice at Saturday's practice session, but Evgeny Kuznetsov was not. Kuznetsov took ill and didn't practice, casting some doubt on his availability for Sunday's contest with the Flyers.
"He was sick today," says Caps coach Todd Reirden of Kuznetsov. "So he came in today, he was sick, and we sent him home.
"I have hopes for sure [that he can play Sunday], and then I just hope that Hagelin continues to feel better. He felt a little bit better today and it was a short skate, and we had him go through that. Hopefully he doesn't have any more issues as the day goes on."

For the Flyers, Sunday's game is the second in as many afternoons. Philly hosted the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon, falling 4-2 as the Flyers' already dim playoff chances took another significant blow. Trailing 2-1 heading into the third, the Flyers killed off a full two-minute, five-on-three Islanders power play and tied the game on a power play of their own soon after. Philly was four minutes shy of getting at least a point and forcing overtime, but Josh Bailey scored twice in 83 seconds to deliver a crushing blow to the Flyers.
With just seven games remaining and sitting at 80 points, the Flyers would have to run the table the rest of the way to get to 94 points, and 94 might not be enough to lay claim to the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. Montreal is the current occupant of that spot, and the Habs are on pace to reach 94 points, but they currently hold the first tiebreaker, having three more regulation/overtime wins than the Flyers.
Philly put on a valiant second-half push for a postseason berth, going 21-9-2 in its last 32 games. The Flyers simply dug themselves too big of an early season hole and they're likely to fall just short.
The Caps have been responsible for some of Philly's woes, beating them three times in as many meetings since the turn of the calendar. The Caps beat the Flyers in the District by a 5-3 count in early January and dropped them twice earlier this month in Philadelphia, winning 5-3 on March 6 and 5-2 on March 14.
On Sunday, the Caps will be seeking just their second ever sweep of a season's series with the Flyers. Washington won all four games from Philly back in 2006-07 in Alex Ovechkin's sophomore season in the league.

"I thought that some of the adjustments they made with their new coach were things that we did a good job - our coaching staff - of being aware of," says Reirden of the Caps' success against the Flyers. "Seeing some of the things that were giving them some success against the rest of the league, we were able to make some adjustments to counteract that, and that has given us a chance to have success.
"Something that we believe in and that has worked [for us] against them, getting through the neutral zone has been a struggle for some teams. And we've done a decent job of getting through there."