I had a vision of the Caps vs Flyers in round one, and it was ugly. The Caps and the Flyers are 60-something percent likely to match up in the first round of the playoffs, so Wednesday night’s rivalry night game was supposedly a preview of what we’ll see in a few weeks. If that’s the case, I feel mostly good about the Caps’ chances despite the gimmick loss, but I feel absolutely terrible about the stomach ulcer I’m already developing.
The game was agonizingly scoreless until early in the third period, when Evgeny Kuznetsov’s seam pass reached the Ovi spot. With five minutes left, the Flyers’ Brayden Schenn converted a power play, pushing us into overtime. The Flyers survived a Caps OTPP and pushed us all the way to the shootout, and you know what that means….
Shootout bullets!
- Oshie did NOT put the biscuit in the basket.
- Cousins put the biscuit in the basket. Five hole.
- Kuznetsov did NOT put the biscuit in the basket.
- Ganer put the biscuit in the basket.
Flyers beat Caps 2-1 in the shootout. Blech.
- Braden Holtby, still twos wins shy of Marty Brodeur’s record, was terrific in the loss. Dude is ratcheting up that ice-water-in-his-veins action right in time for the second season. He needed every ounce of that ice water for Philly’s 34 shots on goal– yeesh, that’s too many.
- A game-time decision, TJ Oshie got into the lineup at the last second. (Poor Michael Latta remains on the shelf.) Oshie suited up on the third line, which was much better than the…
- The fourth line was so bad, y’all. Tom Wilson and company got demolished (25 percent possession), throwing off a pretty solid effort by the Caps’ top nine forwards. I suppose we could chalk these lines up to 11th hour shakeups and a lack of chemistry. Sure, let’s do that. I’m in a good mood.
- As for tone, it was a pretty mild game until the back half. Maybe it changed when Jason Chimera knob-ended Shayne Gostisbehere, or maybe it’s just inborn hatred, but yeah, a Caps-Flyers game got dirty. Go figure. Niskanen cross-checked Claude Giroux (who I’m not sure should even be playing), Ryan White returned fire on John Carlson, Jay Beagle gave Steve Mason some cuddles, and I just sat here in my pajamas next to a farty bulldog hoping no one got significantly hurt.
- Best tweet regarding the whole fracas:
@ianoland just seein' if he a real ghost or not
— nick palastro (@Palastro24) March 31, 2016
- You know you’re in trouble when Marcus Johansson commits a penalty. His third period hook gives Johansson 14 PIMs on the season, a career high. I feel like we need to have a family meeting. Marcus quit academic club, he’s talking back to his teachers, he’s listening to the rap metal, he’s hooking people in the third period when we have a one-goal lead, and I don’t like that Thomas kid he’s been hanging out with.
- Nick Backstrom went 1 for 14 on the faceoff dot at last check. Then again, he also was safely above 50 percent possession during 5v5. Then again again, he was pushed around like a grocery cart every time his skates hit the ice.
- Dmitry Orlov was quiet tonight, which is — in a way– a blessing.
- Sean Couturier (his name means man of nice clothes) ran Holtby in overtime. Holtby hugged him in retaliation, and that is somehow matching minors. Okay, sure, whatever. Garbage officiating. I must presume the NHL is aware that they look completely out of control lately and have chosen to steer into the skid.
- “He not fat.” I really hate national broadcasts, especially from the JV squad. I listened to the first period on Caps radio, which is vastly superior but delayed a couple minutes.
what the hell even is this of the night
A shootout win tells you nothing about these teams except which one is hugging on the ice. For their part, the Philadelphia Flyers are a fun little clown show of a hockey team. Their try-hard hi-jinx will be entertaining to watch next month– for, oh, let’s say five games. And then the Caps will put them away.
That’s all I’ve got. Let’s do comments.
