The Capitals went into Philadelphia on the back half of a back-to-back and faced a Flyers team just now hosting their home opener for the 2017-18 season. The extra jump the Flyers got from both of those things were too much for Philipp Grubauer and the Caps.
Sean Couturier put the Flyers on the board early, slamming home his own rebound after an odd man break. Jakub Vrana quickly knotted things back up at one, but that wouldn’t last long, as Grubauer took a risk and Scott Laughton made him pay for it. 2-1 Philadelphia after twenty minutes.
Wayne Simmonds struck on the power play and Claude Giroux deflected another past Grubauer as the lead bulged to three. Nicklas Backstrom scored immediately on a breakaway after the Giroux tally to trim the lead, but Valterri Filppula restored the three goal lead minutes later. 5-2 orange guys.
Laughton would strike again after more sloppy neutral zone play. Couturier would do the same. Giroux would add another.
Flyers beat Caps 8-2.
- The Caps were heavily out shot, especially in the second period where it took them nearly half of the frame to tally a single shot. The entire defensive effort just looked disorganized and fatigued. Neutral zone and defensive zone both. Lets hope we can blame tired legs and inexperience for most of it.
- Matt Niskanen, please get well soon. The Caps need him to miss the exact minimum of games or days on LTIR because they looked like an absolute mess without him. The changing defensive pairs are going to need some time to gel and grow, but woof.
- Alan May and Ian had another one of their classic Twitter bouts. This time over the value of the metric system.
He’s 🇨🇦so he’s flying 4,350 kilometers to watch his 89.881 kilogram son Madison play against the Flyers
— Alan May (@MayHockeyNBCS) October 14, 2017
Don’t be rude or I’ll tweet your weight in kilos!!
— Alan May (@MayHockeyNBCS) October 14, 2017
- Madison Bowey made his NHL debut in front of his father and some fans that get really ravenous when they’re around batteries or battery operated objects.
- They call Eminem the “Rap God”, well at this rate you may as well call Evgeny Kuznetsov the “Assist God”. The Caps talented Russian centerman made a great play to set up Jakub Vrana‘s first period marker and tally his 11th assist in only six games. Mom’s spaghetti.
- At the first intermission I asked RMNB’s Twitter followers what they thought was the worst orange thing. These are my four favorite answers:
Locker room full of Oompaloompas.
— Josette Plank (@josetteplank) October 15, 2017
food that is orange but wasn't orange when you bought it.
— 🅰️NGERY 999999999…% (@averagecapsfan) October 15, 2017
Trump, in a Flyers sweater, eating candy corn https://t.co/uyxmKV6ojd
— Scary Dave (@ScaryDaveDC) October 15, 2017
1. Trump
2. The Oilers jersey— Andrew Berkshire (@AndrewBerkshire) October 15, 2017
- Philipp Grubauer was left out to dry like a gajillion times. His numbers are going to suffer hugely, but our opinions of his ability should not.
- Claude Giroux apparently does not play center anymore. He can no longer brag about his face-off percentage to opposition centers. Steve Ott breathes a sigh of relief.
- Tarik El-Bashir has been roving around various hockey landscapes looking for true, authentic Capitals fans. When does he get to hang with the RMNB crew during a game and take in the frantic recap and highlight post process?
Joe B suit of the night
See you right back here on Tuesday for Auston Matthews and the Leafs. Can anyone else not read “Auston Matthews” without hearing Steve Dangle sing-song it in your head?
Photo: Len Redkoles
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