POSTGAME 5: TK Gets Hatty as Flyers Down Caps, 5-3

In the front end of a home-and-home set, the Philadelphia Flyers began the statistical second half of the 2022-23 season with a 5-3 win against the Washington Capitals at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday evening. A hat trick by Travis Konecny on even strength, shorthanded, and power play (empty net) goals led the way. The Flyers have won six of seven games since the NHL's leaguewide holiday break. The teams will rematch in Washington on Saturday.

The Flyers took a 2-1 lead to the first intermission. Scott Laughton (PPG, 10th goal of the season) opened the scoring at 7:26. The Capitals tied the game in the final minute on a Garnet Hathaway tally (6th) at 19:06, only for the Flyerst to respond at 19:27 on Travis Konecny's 22nd goal of the season. Konecny extended his current point-streak to 10 straight games.
TK wasn't done yet by a longshot.
Philly controlled the play for the decided majority of a scoreless second period. Owen Tippett (13th) scored at 5:31 to establish a 3-1 edge for the Flyers at 5:31 of the third period. Laughton connected with Konecny (2nd goal of the game, 23rd of the season) on a shorthanded 2-on-1 to open a 4-1 lead. Washigton pushed back for goals by Martin Johansson (11th) at 9:18 directly off an Ivan Provorov giveaway and then a TJ Oshie goal (8th) set up by Nicklas Bäckström at 14:42. Konecny completed the hat trick into an empty net power play with 12.3 seconds left during a delayed penalty on Washington.
Carter Hart earned the win with 26 saves on 29 shots on goal. Darcy Kuemper took the loss with 31 saves on 35 shots.
The Flyers went -for-5 on the power play. The Capitals were 0-for-1.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]
TURNING POINT
The Flyers' immediate response by Konecny to the Hathaway goal gave Philadelphia a 2-1 lead. They led the rest of the night.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) In the first minute of the game, Frost had an open chance from the right slot. Kuemper got a piece. Moments later, he set up a chance for York. York was blocked. At the other end of the ice, Hart denied Ovechkin.
On their next shift, Tippett had a takeaway and Frost deflected a shot from the slot on net but Kuemper made the save.
Hart denied a shot from a pinching Erik Gustafsson near the hash marks and, not long thereafter, stopped a side-angle offering from TJ Oshie. Shots were 6-3 Caps through 6:46.
Ovechkin had a bang-bang shot off an offensive zone faceoff. At 7;13, Tippett was tripped up in the neutral zone by Ovechkin. The Flyers started the PP 2i with the second unit on the ice and it paid off. The Flyers controlled the draw and scored 13 seconds later at 7:26. Tippett passed back to DeAngelo at the point. DeAngelo went laterally to Laughton. With traffic in front, Laughton fired a shot from up high that found the net. The assists went to DeAngelo and Tippett.
A scoring chance for Provorov at one end -- the pass to the slot missed connections turned into a breakaway for Provorov the other way. Hart came up big to make the save. At the other end of the ice, Evgeny Kuznetsov tripped Tippett. The Flyers went back to the power play at 11:33.
With 1:06 left on the power play, Konecny one-timed a fshot on thet. Farabee was denied on the rebound at the right post.The Hayes unit generated a chance for Frost going to the net off a Cates feed and then York had a look.The score remained 1-0.
Sanheim broke up a potential 2-on-1 for Oshe and Bäckström off a bank pass. At the other end, Konecny had a shot gloved down by Kuemper.
The Flyers escaped danger when Hayes turned over the puck twice in th e defensive zone on the same shift. But they didn't escape the next shift, as Washington converted a transition rush against Philly's fourth line. Jensen skated through the neutral zone and fed Hathaway, who scored from in close at 19:06. The helpers went to Jensen and Nic Dowd.
The Flyers wasted no time -- a mere 21 seconds -- restoring the lead at 2-1. Farabee won a battle behind the net and centered the puck in front to Konecny who finished it off at 19:27. Farabee earned the lone assist.
2) The Capitals made some pushes in the opening period but the Flyers were up on their skates and had the better of the overall play. Shots on goal were 15-10 Flyers with a 24-16 all-situations shot attempt edge to the Flyers. Scoring chances were 12-9 Flyers with a 7-3 high-danger advantage for Philly. The Flyers also won 14 of 22 faceoffs in the first period.
3) Just 33 seconds into the second period, Sanheim had a 2-on-0 breakaway with Konecny. Kuemper moved over for a great save. On the first nex shift,Kuemper had to come up huge again; this time on JVR off a setup from Tippett. The Flyers had the period's first four shots on goal.
At 4:31, Hart saw his first shot. He absorbed a Lars Eller shot from the top of the right circle.
Sanheim bailed out DeAngelo on a developing 2-on-1 rush for Washington. Sanheim broke up the pass. Shots on goal through 6:44 were 5-2 Flyers. Near the 8:00 mark, Allison had a look near the net but tucked the puck just wide.
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The Bäckström (2 shots on goal in the shift) and Laughton lines traded off possession shifts. Near the end of the latter shift, Flyers defenseman Sanheim got caught up ice. This time, DeAngelo returned the favor by breaking up the counterattack.
The Flyers went to their third power play of the game -- all drawn by Tippett -- when Orlov tripped him on what otherwise would have been a clean exit from the defensive zone at 14:33. Once again, the Laughton unit started. Neither unit generated anything of note.
4) Although they ended up with nothing to show for it on the scoreboard, the Flyers were once again the better team in the second period. Breakouts were executed well. The Flyers navigated the neutral zone effectively and generated a lot of attack time. Shots on goal were 12-8 Flyers. Shot attempts were 23-17 Flyers. Scoring chances were 13-6 Flyers with a 6-1 high-danger edge. Primarily due to the strong play of Kuemper in net, the Flyers were unable to generate any goals from all the opportunities.
5) The Flyers iced the puck 17 seconds into the third period. Hart made a save in close on Ovechkin moments later to keep the score 2-1.On the same shift, Gustafsson pinched in and had plenty of net to shoot at but fired wide.
The Flyers built a 3-1 lead at 4:31 on a counterattack goal. JVR started it in the defensive zone, passing ahead to Tippett. Gaining offensive zone entry and using a defenseman as a screen, TIppett sniped home his 13th goal of the season. JVR got the lone assist.
On the next shift, Hart stopped an Ovechkin shot from the right hash marks. A few minutes later, DeAngelo was whistled off for slashing Sonny Milano at 6:38. Washington went on the power play for the first time in the game. The Flyers promptly turned the PK into their NHL-leading 8th shorthanded goal of the season. After an initial clearing attempt by Provorov, Laughton and Konecny broke out on a 2-on-1. Konecny received a tape-to-tape pass from Laughton and buried it for a 4-1 on Philadelphia's 32nd shot of the night at 7:28. Philly killed off the rest of the penalty.
With play back at 5-on-5, Dowd was stopped by Hart from a tight angle near the right post. At 9:18, however, the Capitals sliced the gap to 4-2. Provorov attempted an outlet pass and put it right onto the stick of Johansson. The veteran Swedish forward, from the deep slot, promptly rifled the puck past Hart for an unassisted goal.
At 11:10, Hart snapped an Ovechkin shot from the top of the left circle out of the air with traffic lurking in front. Third period shots were now 6-5 Flyers.
Kuznetsov took a bad slashing penalty in the offensive zone at 11:34. The Hayes unit started the PP this time. They had significant offensive zone time but no scoring chances. Just as importantly, the Capitals had no shorthanded counters as two more minutes ticked off the clock.
The Capitals, however, drew back within 4-3 at 14: 42. It was a goal off the rush in which Oshie had room to move across the middle, take a pass from Bäckström and backhand the puck into the net. Martin Fehervary got the secondary assist.
The Capitals pulled Kuemper for an extra attacker. With 1;19 left in regulation, Oshie was called for tripping Farabee. Kuemper was pulled again for a 5-on-5 after Washington got possession. Hart stopped an Ovechkin shot from the left side boards with 40.2 seconds on the clock. At 19:47, with a delayed penalty upcoming on Washington, Laughton completed a pass to Konecny, who had a slam dunk to seal the victory. Shots in the third period were 11-9 Caps.