Postgame RAV4: Flyers Drop Preseason Finale, 5-1

Rick Tocchet's Philadelphia Flyers lost 5-1 to the Washington Capitals, at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday. The Flyers finished 1-3-0 in the preseason. Washington dressed only four NHL regulars. Philly used mostly their NHL lineup.

The first period was scoreless. Washington goaltender Charlie Lindgren was spectacular in net. On the first shift of the second period, Jamie Drysdale (1st) opened the scoring for Philly. Andrew Cristall (1st) soon made it a 1-1 game before Maxim Schaefer (1st) put Washington ahead. Ethan Frank (1st) added a power play goal.

Theodor Niederbach made it a 4-1 game early in the third period. Lyndon Lakovic (1st) added additional insurance.

1ST PERIOD

The Flyers on the game's first power play at 2:57. Owen Tippett had Philadelphia's best look during the two minutes. He was unable to get the puck on the net.

With play back to full strength, the Flyers generated the game's first extended pressure.

At 7:16, Washington went to their first power play. Tyson Foerster went off for the hooking minor. The Flyers killed it off.

Cam York attempted a wraparound and created a power play at 10:10. The Flyers generated good movement. Alex Bump rang a shot off the crossbar. The Flyers fourth line created a solid shift with play back to 5-on-5. 

At 14:39, Philly went to its third power play on a high-sticking double minor. The first minor expired without a scoring chance. In the second half of the power play, Matvei Michkov had a scoring chance from the high slot. Philly went to 0-for-4 on the man advantage in the period.

Washington had a near-miss chance off the goal post late in the frame.

SHOTS: Flyers 13 - Capitals 5.

2ND PERIOD

The forechecking work of Tyson Foerster and Travis Konecny created a Washington turnover Drysdale pinched through the middle and beat Lindgren with a clean wrister at the 31-second mark. The assists went to Konecny and Foerster.

At 4:32, Cristall took advantage of a Kolosov turnover behind the net. David Jiricek didn't arrive quite in time. Spencer Smallman had the lone assist.

On the next shift, Owen Tippett nearly restored the lead. 

Another bad turnover, this time by Jiricek led directly to Maxim Schaefer scoring unassisted at 7:36.

At 12:16, Jiircek went for high sticking Cristall. The Capital controlled the faceoff and Frank ripped home a shot over Kolosov's blocker for a 3-1 lead at 12:24. The assists went to Louie Belpedio and Cristall.

Lindgren made an outstanding save on Michkov after a fine setup from Cates. Two shifts later, Trevor Zegras set up Porter Martone. Again, Lindgren had the answer. With 44.4 seconds on the clock, Rasmus Ristolainen was turned around at the doorstep.

With 4.7 seconds left, offsetting penalties kept play at 5-on-5.

SHOTS -- Flyers 21 (34 overall) -  Capitals 8 (13 overall)

3RD PERIOD

At 1:07, a short side shot from Niederbach eluded Kolosov for Washington's four goals on 14 shots. Veteran Calvin Pickard came in to finish the game in goal for the Caps.

Martone took a roughing penalty at 1:40. The Flyers killed the penalty successfully.

With 11:12 left in the third period, Nick Seeler got a cross-checking penalty.The Capitals applied late pressure.

Michkov attempted a Michigan lacrosse-style shot. At 16:06, Lakovic scored a goal off the rush.

SHOTS --  Flyers  4 (37 overall) - Capitals 11 (27 overall)

37   27

Starting Lineup 

Owen Tippett- Trevor Zegras - Porter Martone
Alex Bump-Christian Dvorak - Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster - Noah Cates - Travis Konecny
Garrett Wilson - Sean Couturier -Noel Acciari  

Travis Sanheim - Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York - Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seeler - David Jiricek

Aleksei Kolosov
[Yaniv Perets]

POSTGAME RAV4 (RAV4 Things Recisite)

1. Dress rehearsal

The Flyers open the regular season at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins on September 30. Saturday's game, for the most part, is a final dress rehearsal under game conditions.

Most of the Flyers' veterans dressed for the preseason finale. 

2. Remaining roster battles

With the exception of veteran enforcer Garrett Wilson, most of Saturday's position player lineup could carry over to September 30.

3. Power play 

The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play in the preseason finale; all within the first period.

Philly was 1-for-4 on the penalty kill.

4. Puck possession

The Flyers dominated puck possession and scoring chances for two periods. Turnover and goaltending were the difference The thid period saw the Flyers' energy drop and Washington had the better of play. Philly was largely shut down in the final period.