Photo: Patrick Smith
Alex Ovechkin didn’t get his record, but the Washington Capitals beat the Philadelphia Flyers, which isn’t bad for a consolation prize I suppose.
Jay Beagle whiffed on a clearing attempt, which led to Scott Laughton’s goal for the Flyers. The Caps struck back with a maddeningly pretty pass from Kuznetsov to Oshie.
In the second period, the Flyers finally converted on their 76th power play, and then the Caps, namely Jason Chimera, scored on their very first power play. Justin Williams notched his third goal of the season with the third line to give the Capitals their first lead of the night. Matt Niskanen’s power-play marker, tapped by Jason Chimera (again?!), extended that lead to two. (Before the period was up, Alex Ovechkin sorta scored that record-breaking goal for the second time, but nope nope nope, the NHL is stupid.)
Tom Wilson forced a turnover to set up Nick Backstrom’s gutshot goal in the third period, thereby making this a bailamos game. Ovi didn’t get his goal, but the Caps got the win.
Caps beat Flyers 5-2. Let’s dance.
- A combination of soft whistles and dumbassery gave the Flyers four consecutive power plays in the first period. Luckily, Philadelphia was pretty much incompetent until that final power play, off Tom Wilson’s charge, on which Claude Giroux scored early in the second.
- Before that, seriously the Flyers were turrrrrrible. Outmanning the Caps for six minutes and change, the Flyers got just one shot on goal and maybe four shot attempts total. From ya boy Mike Vogel:
Flyers had one shot on net in final 11:08 of 1st. It came on the PP. Despite being short for 6:05, #Caps led 17-13 in 1st period shot tries.
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) November 13, 2015
- That was truly a boneheaded penalty by Tom Wilson, the latest in a long line, but it’s still — as far as I can tell — what Trotz wants him to do. All Trotz’s actions tell me that, at least. As much as I enjoy watching Wilson terrorize Brayden Schenn, I’d rather see him try to score. And no, sloppy drop passes to Tristan (?) Chorney before a turnover do not count. Wilson redeemed himself a bit in the third with that tenacious takeaway before Backstrom scored from the slot. I guess that’s what I want all the time.
- Also on the topic of dismal wastes of talent, Michael Latta fought a guy. Latta is a true gamer, a good option for the third line, but being marginalized has made him a bit testy and desperate to prove himself. He’d be better at proving himself if he just kept on playing solid hockey instead of almost killing some guy named Ryan White.
- Five down, twenty five to go. TJ Oshie ain’t gonna get stonewalled no more, especially when Evgeny Kuznetsov is the setup man. (Smooth segue to next bullet…)
- Kuznetsov also set up Jason Chimera (who apparently is on the top power play unit now?) for a goal that anyone could have scored. I mean, not to take anything away from Chimera, but I want to take everything away from Chimera right now. My nephew Hank could have scored that goal and his motor skills are terrible. Kid isn’t allowed to drink grape juice without a tarp under him.
- Two nights after firing 15 shots on goal, Alex Ovechkin had just two shots and ranked dead last among the Caps in on-ice shot-attempt differential. Add that to his second nullified record-breaking goal and you just wanna give him a big ol’ bear hug.
- Justin Williams has been the dude responsible for both of Ovechkin’s record-breaking goals getting washed out. First he “interfered” with the goalie, then he was “off side.” He needs to make it up to Ovi somehow. Maybe he can bake a mean batch of nachos.
- After a week or two of sleepiness, Andre Burakovsky seemed more animated tonight. He fire some shots of his own (3) and generated some decent scoring chance. A good turn.
- I think I need to underline how bad the Flyers are. They’re really bad. They’re cold coffee bad. They’re soggy socks bad. They’re Qdoba at the Orlando airport bad. They’re bars on the night before Thanksgiving bad. They’re Eddie Murphy since 1995 bad. The Flyers got two pucks past Braden Holtby, but they fired only 11 shots on him total through 40 minutes. Intensity picked up a bit in the third, but none of that changes the fact that the Flyers are in trouble.
- The top pairing of John Carlson and Nate Schmidt was not a revelation after all. The top line of forwards didn’t do very well either. Maybe the Flyers won the match-up contest, or maybe something was funky with those guys tonight. Either way, the Flyers put them on defense more often than not, which is not good.
Joe B suit of the night
That was the first Caps’ win in Philly since the 7-0 rout back in the day.
Alex Ovechkin has to score his 484th goal three times, but Jason Chimera gets two goals just for showing up. This is the world we live in. You work and work and work, but it’s the other guy who gets the glory. Meh. Maybe that’d bug me a little more if the glory guy weren’t a 36-year-old speedster like Chimmer. Nice game.
#GivingDay is almost over! Don't let the day pass without investing so #DC kids & families get the support they need https://t.co/MVMvdaUKwO
— DC127 (@reversethelist) November 13, 2015
