Caps Fall to Flyers in Shootout, 3-2

On Wednesday night in Philadelphia, the Capitals and the Flyers hooked up in an entertaining contest in their first meeting since last spring's first-round playoff series. Sixty minutes of hockey wasn't enough to determine a winner. Five minutes of overtime solved nothing.

And so, the game went to a shootout. Philadelphia earned the extra point and a 3-2 shootout win.

"I don't know if any game should deserve to go to a shootout, unless it's one of the most boring games ever," says Caps goaltender Braden Holtby. "I think that the real hockey was what was good tonight, and it was two good teams."

Washington never trailed in the game and twice was able to forge a one-goal lead. But the Caps weren't able to add to those leads, either. The Caps had their lone power play of the game in the final two minutes of regulation, and weren't able to cash in as the clock wound down, and they also saw a golden chance to win it go by the wayside in the last few ticks of overtime.

Although the Flyers had the only power play opportunity of the first frame, the Caps grabbed a 1-0 lead in the opening period. Returning to the lineup after a three-game stint as a healthy scratch, Andre Burakovsky staked Washington to a 1-0 lead at 18:24 of the first period when he scored his first goal since Oct. 13.

After winning the puck along the left wing half wall in the Philly zone, Burakovsky dished to linemate Lars Eller in the left circle. Eller went to Dmitry Orlov at the right point, and Orlov wound up as if to fire from there. Instead, he passed back against the grain back to Burakovsky, and the latter whipped a wrist shot that beat Philadelphia goaltender Steve Mason on the blocker side.

"It was nice to get back in and finally get a goal again," says Burakovsky. "It's been a while, so it's about time. I think I played a really good game today. I had a lot of opportunities, skated good and I was really confident with the puck. It was fun to get back in."

Early in the second, the Caps narrowly missed padding their lead when Mason expertly pokechecked Caps center Evgeny Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov had cut to the middle of the ice, and Mason's move appeared to deny the Caps an almost certain goal.

Shortly thereafter, Philadelphia pulled even.

Holtby went down to the ice while tracking a wide point shot from Philly defenseman Radko Gudas, and Flyers forward Michael Raffl was able to retrieve it from behind the net and quickly wrap it around on the far side just before Holtby could recover. Initially, it appeared as though Holtby's paddle and John Carlson's stick might have combined to keep the puck from crossing the goal line. But video review confirmed the goal, making it a 1-1 game at 4:25 of the second.

"It was a shot a bit wide," recounts Holtby. "They had been doing those shot tips wide a few times, so I kind of had to slide over. Once I saw it bounce off [the boards] quick, I just tried to get my body out of the way - that's probably why it looked awkward - so it didn't bounce in off me. But it went behind the net. It's just one of those strange plays."

Eller's line was able to restore the Caps' lead just ahead of the midpoint of the middle period. Mason stopped a shot from Burakovsky, then denied another from Carlson. But Eller was in a good spot for the rebound, and the third time was the charm as he banged it home to make it a 2-1 game at 9:53.

As it had done in the first, Washington killed off a second straight Philadelphia power play in the second and the Capitals were 62 seconds shy of getting to the room with that one-goal lead. That's when Philly's Shayne Gostisbehere and Washington's Justin Williams were sent off for hi-sticking and slashing, respectively.

The call on Williams was a weak one; he merely lifted Gostisbehere's stick, but the official bought it and sent both players to the box instead of the Caps having what would have been their first power play of the night.

Some 40 seconds later, the Flyers tied the game again. After Holtby made an excellent stop on Philly defenseman Ivan Provorov, Kuznetsov collected the puck out of the corner and attempted to send it out of the zone indirectly, off the boards. But the puck took a Philadelphia bounce, kicking right out to the middle of the ice where Claude Giroux was able to collect it and quickly fire it past Holtby to make it a 2-2 game with 20.7 seconds left in the second period.

Both sides had chances in the third, but both goaltenders were at their best, as each made two or three excellent stops to deny strong scoring chances. When Tom Wilson was finally able to draw a power play for the Capitals with 1:48 remaining, Washington had a chance to take the lead once more. Mason stopped Caps captain Alex Ovechkin from the doorstep with seconds remaining, and Jakub Vrana wasn't able to get a stick on the rebound.

Matt Niskanen nearly won it for Washington as time ticked down in the extra session, but Mason was able to kick up his left pad to deny what appeared to be a vacant upper half of the net.

"[Niskanen] came across and it was kind of a little scorpion kick," says Mason. "It was a desperation thing to take as much of the upper portion of the night away. I had a pretty good portion of the ice covered with my leg, I was just trying to get some of the vertical stuff going."

"I was going to get a shot off but obviously I don't have a ton of experience being one-on-one with the goalie like that," says Niskanen. "I tried my best to go across and find an opening but not much of my game there."

A fun game between a pair of longtime rivals who faced one another in the playoffs last spring didn't deserve a shootout, but it got one anyway, because those are the rules. Philly prevailed in that portion of the evening's activity to pull the extra standings point.

"Anytime you play one of your main rivals, it always emulates a playoff game," says Philly forward Wayne Simmonds. "It's pretty intense. We knew at any moment any mistake their team can capitalize on. I think it was a great game by both teams."