POSTGAME 5: Flyers Lose to Caps in OT, 3-2

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Washington Capitals in overtime, 3-2, at Capital One Arena on Wednesday evening. Alexander Ovechkin scored his 10th goal of the season to end the game at 1:04 of overtime to end the game.

The Flyers led by scores of 1-0 and 2-1 and never trailed in regulation. They couldn't close it out late in the third period. Philadelphia is now winless in eight games (0-5-3).
Morgan Frost (3rd goal of the season) had some overdue puck luck on a tally at 5:27 of the first period. Marcus Johansson had a would-be power play goal disallowed for kicking the puck into the net but then scored one that counted (5th) later on the same man advantage at 11:05.
In the second period, the Flyers were heavily outshot by the Caps but scored the only goal. A Patrick Brown deflection (1st) of an Ivan Provorov shot at 14:33 gave Philadelphia a 2-1 edge heading into the third period.
The Flyers held Washington to six shots in the third period but the Caps got a goal by Sonny Milano (3rd) on a borderline onside/offside rush at 17:02 to force overtime. TJ Oshie assisted on both Capitals regulation goals.
Felix Sandström stopped 29 of 32 shots in a losing cause. Darcy Kuemper was shaky at times but saved 21 of 23 Philadelphia shots to earn the win.
The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play. The Capitals were 1-for-3.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
49 Noah Cates - 13 Kevin Hayes - 17 Zack MacEwen
59 Jackson Cates - 38 Patrick Brown - 58 Tanner Laczynski
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 23 Lukas Sedlak - 20 Kieffer Bellows
9 Ivan Provorov - 77 Tony DeAngelo
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
32 Felix Sandström
[79 Carter Hart]
TURNING POINT
The Milano goal that tied the game was very close to being offside and may, in fact, have been offside on the entry but it was splitting hairs either way. Rather than risk a delay-of-game penalty if a challenge was unsuccessful, John Tortorella elected not to challenge.
In 3-on-3 sudden death, Hayes and Tippett started out with DeAngelo. Oshie, Kuznetsov and Carlson started out for Washington. Ovechkin hit the post. Ovechkin subsequently had another chance. He didn't miss this time as Strome passed over to him in the left circle. Ovechkin netted career goal 790 to end the game.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1. The Flyers had the game's first scoring chance on a mini 2-on-1. Bellows elected to shoot and his five-hole attempt was denied by Kuemper. At the other end of the ice, Strome nearly stashed home a bouncing puck off a partially blocked shot by Alex Ovechkin.
Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead at 5:27. Frost carried the puck into the offensive zone, one-on-two. He fired a routine rising shot that Kuemper misplayed, and the puck trickled into the net off the goalie's shoulder. The assists went to Sanheim and Farabee.
At the 7:00 mark, Kuemper boxed another puck on a shot by Bellows. The puck went off the pipe. On the next shift, MacEwen landed a crunching hit on Martin Fehervary. Noah Cates picked up the puck and carried it in only to take a hit from Conor Sheary that killed the play. A John Carlson turnover led to a backhand chance for Laczynski at 8:59. At the other end, Frost turned the puck over exiting the defensive zone. Sandström erased it with a save on Lars Eller from the left circle.
At 9:58, Braun was penalized for tripping. Forty-five seconds into the power play Johansson followed up his own rebound by kicking the puck into the net with his right skate. Upon a video review, the goal was disallowed. Nevertheless, the Caps went on to score. A knuckleball of a shot by TJ Oshie went off DeAngelo to Ovechkin, whose follow-up shot between the pads was tipped into the net from the blue paint by Johansson at 11:05.
The Flyers went on their first power play at 11:53 after Nic Dowd was called for hooking Farabee. It took a while for the Flyers to get entry and set up but, once they did, Philly generated a couple of shots by DeAngelo with some traffic in front.
With 3:50 left in the first period, Sandström gloved down a shot from Carlson from the top of the right circle. Four seconds of game play later, Sonny Milano clipped Nick Seeler with a high stick along the boards in the Flyers' zone. Philadelphia generated no pressure and no shots on the ensuing power play.
2. First period shots on goal were tied at 10-10. Shot attempts were also tied (20-20). Scoring chances were 9-8 Flyers including a 5-4 high-danger edge to Philly. The Flyers lost 12 of the game's first 13 faceoffs but won a few later in the period to go 5-for-18 (28 percent). MacEwen was credited with four first-period hits and blocked six Caps shots. Seven Flyers attempts were blocked. Bellows had an active first period for the Flyers despite modest (2:54) ice time, attempting five shots and putting three on net.
3. The Frost line had an early 3-on-2 rush opportunity in the second period. A pass intended for Farabee hopped over his stick. Retrieving it behind the net, Farabee landed a solid hit on Jensen. A little past two minutes into the second period Braun blocked a Johansson shot attempt and came up hobbling a bit. Washington had four of the period's first five shots on goal. Deslauriers landed a solid neutral zone hit on Nic Dowd and then a second hit on Trevor van Riemsdyk at the defensive blueline on the same shift. At 7:01, Sandström made a stick save on a TVR shot.
Through eight minutes, there were only a combined six shots on goal among both teams (four for the Caps, two for the Flyersa. The Capital went to their second power play when Braun was sent off for hooking Dowd with a loose puck in front of the net. The Flyers had a passive PK box but were not burned despite Washington finding the seams a couple times. Sandström denied Ovechkin from the bottom of the left circle late in the kill. With play back at 5-on-5, Sandström gloved a Jensen slapper and held for a TV timeout stoppage.
Strome hit the post at 12:19. The shift continued. A Frost shot was turned away by Kuemper in the Washington zone. With all three Philadelphia forwards caught deep up ice, the Capitals had an odd-man rush the other way. Sandström made a strong save on Ovechkin to keep it a 1-1 game.
The Flyers grabbed a 2-1 at 14:33 . The Flyers controlled the puck up high and along the perimeter. Moving into the right circle, Provorov put the puck at the net backhanded, where it was tipped in from near the post by Patrick Brown. The assists went to Provorov and Deslauriers. The game came on just the fourth shot goal of the period for the Flyers.
At the 18:00 mark, Sedlak was called for cross-checking Eik Gustafsson behind the Caps net. The penalty came a moment before the Flyers' Bellows put the puck into the Caps' net from the seat of his pants along the goal line. Provorov nicely killed a Capitals PP entry attempt at the blue line. Frost broke up a would-be one-timer opportunity. Sanheim pressured an errant pass. Sandströn kicked aside an Ovechkin chance before the buzzer.
4. Second period shots on goal were 15-5 in Washington's favor. Shot attempts were a whopping 24-8 Capitals. Scoring chances were 8-4 Capitals (4-1 high-danger). Through two periods, the Capitals won 22 of 38 faceoffs. Deslauriers and MacEwen had five credited hits apiece while Hathaway had five for Washington and Oshie had six. Rasmus Ristolainen blocked four shots through two periods in addition to being credited with three hits.
5. Bellows made a strong move to the net and was hooked by Irwin to create a Flyers power play at 1:40. of the third period.
On the ensuing power play, A Hayes shot attempt was blocked out of play. The Flyers got a 10-second 5-on-3 when Eller was called for slashing. The Flyers called timeout (at 3:30 of the frame). The puck was occupied behind the net until the first penalty expired. At 5-on-4, the Flyers gave up a shorthanded chance to Kuznetsov. Philadelphia did not generate any shots on the back-to-back power plays.
The Capitals generated a scramble around the Flyers' net off a chance in close for Fehervary. On the next shift, Frost passed up a shot opportunity in transition and feathered a pass that Tippett deflected on net.
With time ticking to midway through the period, the Flyers' fourth line created some possession time on the forecheck. Seven minutes went by between stoppages of play. The fourth line had another strong forechecking shift. Bellows missed the net on a prime chance.
The Flyers caught a break at the other end as the Caps had a wide open look at the net but Strome hit the post. Sandström made a stop on Sheary from the bottom of the left circle and the netminder held on for a stoppage at 13;25.
Kuemper got just enough of a Farabee shot to keep it from going in the net. With 5:01 left in regulation a Frost shot attempt from the top of the left circle was blocked out of play by Gustafsson.
Sonny Milano scored a give-and-go goal off the rush with 2:58 left on the clock. The goal came on Washington's fourth shot of the period. It was very close to being offside but the Flyers did not challenge. The assists went to Kuznetsov and Oshie.
Two shots later, Cates hit the post with a shot. With 1:02 left in the period. Milano attacked through the middle. Sandström made the save and the net became dislodged. There was a lot of pushing and shoving between DAngelo and Milano after the whistle.
The Flyers iced the puck with 53.9 seconds left in regulation. They iced again with 22.5 seconds left. The game went to overtime.