Washington’s playoff hopes got dimmer and its rope grew shorter with Wednesday night’s 4-1 loss to the Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. After the Caps grabbed an early lead on the power play, Philadelphia took control of the contest with four unanswered goals, netting two in each of the final two frames.
Wednesday’s setback was a bit of a flip for the Caps; they won they special teams battle against the Flyers but were outplayed at 5-on-5 and were also victimized for a dagger of a 4-on-4 goal against in the third period.
“We lose a little bit of momentum there in the second period,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “We got some of it back for portions of the second; it was fine in the third. We just make a few mistakes there in the second period, which end up costing us one on the line rush, on the [Travis] Konecny goal.
“They get in behind us on a really good [offensive] zone shift, and we just get sloppy with a puck, and now it's a 2-on-0/2-on-1 scenario. So, now we're chasing the game a little bit, and then the 4-on-4 goal hurts. There's just a miscommunication there between [Matt Roy] and [Jakob Chychrun] on a loose puck that sort of squirts out. Nobody grabs it now, gives him another puck and [Jamie] Drysdale makes a play.
“Overall, I thought we played hard. I thought we were right there. Probably the chances are going to be pretty even. I just find we're not making enough plays, and not tonight. Calgary was fine [on Monday], but just with the puck, we left a lot on the table from where you get into some situations and that last play, or that flat pass, or that shot that gets through as opposed to getting blocked. We had a lot of misplays with the puck; we’ve just got to be better with our execution.”
Wednesday’s first period was replete with special teams play; both teams had a pair of power play opportunities, the Caps had a stretch of time with a 4-on-3 manpower advantage, and there was some 4-on-4 hockey as well. So, it was no surprise that the lone goal of the period came on special teams, a Washington power play to be specific.
The Caps grabbed an early lead on their first extra-man opportunity of the evening, putting together one of their better power plays of recent vintage. They moved the puck smartly and efficiently, read well off one another and moved their bodies in concert.
Retrievals were also strong, and Alex Ovechkin and Pierre-Luc Dubois combined to retrieve and win a puck battle along the left half wall, allowing Ryan Leonard to pull the puck away and curl toward the middle. From the top of the left circle, Leonard let a wrist rocket fly, and it beat Philly netminder Samuel Ersson for a 1-0 lead at 9:51 of the opening frame.
“I was just trying to support O and Dubie low,” recounts Leonard. “Playing that bumper role, it’s your job to be available all over the ice and to create a triangle. I came out with that, and Chych and [Dylan Strome] were giving me options. But I saw a chance with their [defensemen] giving the goalie a free screen.”
Philadelphia pulled even early in the second, doing so in transition as the Caps were working in the offensive zone. Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen stopped play in the Philly end and broke it out. A couple passes later, Travis Sanheim had it along the left half wall in Washington ice. Realizing that all five Washington skaters were on the left side and Konecny was lurking all alone on the weak side, Sanheim fed him perfectly, and Konecny knotted the score, beating Logan Thompson from the right dot at 4:23.
Ersson denied Tom Wilson – on a fine stretch feed from Trevor van Riemsdyk – on a breakaway midway through the middle frame to keep the game even, and less than three minutes later the Flyers jumped in front with another transition tally.
Again, the Caps had the Flyers on the ropes in Philadelphia ice, but Philly’s Owen Tippett made an assertive play to gain control of the puck high in the Flyers’ zone, and then he and Trevor Zegras took off on a 2-on-0 rush, playing catch with the puck until Zegras finished to put Philly up 2-1 at 12:13.
The Flyers extended their lead to 3-1 in the front half of the third while the two sides were playing 4-on-4 hockey; Drysdale’s shot from the slot eluded Thompson at 7:17.
In the third, the Caps were slow in getting started; they didn’t put a puck on Ersson until the period was almost eight minutes old. That’s when the Philly netminder – who entered the game with a 1-4-0 lifetime mark against the Caps – made consecutive good stops on Matt Roy and Wilson, respectively.
Washington drew a power play midway through the third, but its best look at the Philly net – a Wilson opportunity from down low on the left side – missed wide, which was the fate of several of the Caps’ best looks on this difficult evening.
In the end, what really stung the Caps were those first two Philly goals, both of which came in transition after the Flyers had managed to get a stop during a lengthy stretch in their own end, and they found enough in the tank to create offense from them.
“That's the kind of team they are,” says Dubois. “They’ve got a few guys that are just waiting for a chance to get going, get guys flat-footed, and we’ve played them enough this year to be ready for that. The forwards, we can do a better job. [The defensemen] can do a better job; everybody can. There's no nobody to blame specifically, I think it's a team thing that we could have done better tonight.”
Tippett but a bow on the win for the Flyers with a late empty-netter to give the Flyers two wins in as many home games against the Caps this season.
With Wednesday’s win, the Flyers nudged ahead of Washington in the Eastern Conference standings. Although both teams currently have 71 points, Philadelphia has played two fewer games, so the Flyers occupy 11th place and the Caps sit in 12th.
