Tom Wilson returns to his natural habitat.
Hockey back! Wee! Bye snow. Hi hockey! Stick and puck and Ovi and yay! Flyers bad, boo Flyers. But yay hockey! Caps goalie and old Caps goalie say grrr. Bad hockey but also good hockey. IKEA people score hockey goals two times plus one. Boo Flyers, but yay hockey back!
It seems I have forgotten how to write hockey. Maybe my fingers would remember their old strength better …if they recapped the goals.
Well, the Flyers owned the first period, scoring twice on the sticks of Brayden Schenn and Ryan White, but the Capitals woke up in the second period, erasing Philadelphia’s lead in a blink thanks to goals by Swedes Andre Burakovsky and Nick Backstrom. Jakub Voracek restored the Flyers leads before the third, but Kuznetsov fed Burakovsky to knot it again. Without a winner in rego, we went to overtime, where Voracek felled Holtby with a tricky release.
Flyers beat Caps. Washington’s home streak snapped at like 1329581635 consecutive wins. Oh well, got a point anyway.
- Marcus Johansson left the game after just six shifts. We think a tricky hit in the corner by Wayne Simmonds is what did it. Mojo will have plenty of time to heal up.
- The Capitals looked terrible in the first period. So bad. I don’t want to talk about it. If you talk about it in comments, you’re banned for seven years. Seven years dungeon. No trial.
- Let’s talk about the second period instead because the first period didn’t even really happen. The Capitals, and their top six especially, owned the puck. Andre Burakovsky finally cracked Michal Neuvirth by seizing on a turnover forced by your boy Nate Schmidt. It was a mirror of the defensive breakdowns that gave the Flyers their goals in the first period, which didn’t happen so don’t talk about it.
- Nick Backstrom scored after a sublime pass by TJ Oshie, who I think led the second period surge and also who I think hangs the stars just like Nate Schmidt, though I worry Schmidt is becoming too mainstream. I mean, face t-shirts? I liked Schmidt before merch got involved, before he sold out, back when he was saying some Voight Kampff nonsense at dev camp. I’m the original Nate Schmidt hipster. Anyway, Oshie’s pass was fleeksauce and shut up, Pat.
guys!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW AWESOME IS THIS SHIRT?!?!?! #CapsFlyers pic.twitter.com/8JJ4WA7thg
— Caiti Garrity (@caitichristie74) January 28, 2016
- The Flyers didn’t get a shot on goal in the second period until nearly 14 minutes were gone. The Caps went 9:24 without a shot on goal in the first period. Hockey is weird.
- Congrats to Karl Alzner for breaking Bobby Carpenter’s consecutive game streak. Apologies to Karl Alzner for Ian ruining the milestone for him. I looked up who has the Washington Nationals consecutive game streak. It was some guy from the Expos who played almost two seasons in a row. Clap clap clap.
- Congrats to John Carlson on his one-game streak since returning from injury. He looked… good? I don’t know. I was paying attention to other stuff, such as…
- Andre Burakovsky‘s sophomore slump is officially over. He’s got nine points in his last six games. He tied this game twice, the second time after the Flyers got away with a flagrant trip on assist man Evgeny Kuznetsov, who was kind of a hot mess–good and bad– for the duration.
- I don’t know what dabbing is. I don’t even know what bofa is.
- The top line had 70+ percent possession during 5v5, which is obscene. Meanwhile, the third line, without Marcus Johansson, was basically a hockey-playing fart with 14 minutes of ice time.
- Li’l Mikey Neuvirth got away with a delay of game late, and Trotz was like
Trotz disagreed with the lack of DOG. pic.twitter.com/AkNj3cc9QO
— Ted Starkey (@TedStarkey) January 28, 2016
What do you think Joe B is wearing right now? I miss him.
Sooooo Braden Holtby had a rough one, allowing a goal on the Flyers’ first shot and committing two penalties (a Trip and a Delay of Game — BOFA). But Holtby is still better than Michal Neuvirth. Pet theory: Bruce Boudreau’s goalie management between 2008 and 2012 were a chief contributor to his dismissal as coach.
Also, today was #BellLetsTalk, wherein people talk about mental health issues and raise money and awareness for the cause. I’m all for open communication except in the case of the first period of this game, which didn’t even happen so shut up. Mental health wise, I’m doing alright right now, but nothing makes me feel more alright than when loved ones let me know that they care that I’m alright. You know what I mean? Alright. Talk about it.
Catch you guys in 2072 for the next Caps game against the Coastal Nevada Neutrinos.
