A Tom Wilson-less Washington Capitals ventured into hostile territory as they took on the Philadelphia Flyers for only the second time this season. It feels like the Caps haven’t beaten Philly in 12 years so it’s about time to change that…right?
Joel Farabee slotted home his 11th of the season to give Philadelphia the early 1-0 lead. The Great Eight tied things up off of a great feed from TJ Oshie and Dmitry Orlov gave the Caps a lead as he found the back of the net in the last seconds of the second period.
Nick Jensen’s first goal as a member of the Capitals extended the lead.
Caps beat Flyers 3-1!
- The Capitals were asleep in the first period and the Flyers were only slightly less asleep but that was enough to earn them a 1-0 lead after twenty minutes. Not a whole lot of offense for either side but Philly sure had much more of the puck.
- We got the news just before the game that Tom Wilson will not be appealing his NHL levied seven-game suspension. A big hole in the lineup to fill in a shortened season. Let’s hope someone steps up.
- Ilya Samsonov leaned into that goaltender interference penalty like Trae Young leans into defenders to buy fouls for the Atlanta Hawks. What a call by the officials that one was.
For all the kids out there who want to be a hockey star when they grow up, I recently asked a UMBC hockey player how he became such a good stickhandler.
"I would stickhandle inside my house while watching an entire hockey game. It took a long time, but eventually, I got good."
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) March 7, 2021
- An absolutely fantastic response from the Caps in the second. Looked like a completely different team. Shot attempts in the period at five-on-five were 27 to 8 in favor of Washington and similarly scoring chances were 13 to 4. More of that please.
- Alex Ovechkin scoring goals will never get old and I hope he scores a metric banana load the rest of this season. He got the 714th of his career in the second period which has him three away from tying Phil Esposito for sixth all-time.
- Jakub Voracek has to be one of the biggest “divers” in the entire league. I swear not a game goes by against the Caps where the dude doesn’t throw himself to the ice to draw a penalty call. I cannot be the only one that notices this.
- Someone please explain to me what John Carlson was attempting to do on that delay of game penalty he took.
With a grin, Jesse Puljujarvi said around the net and in the corners he can be stronger and "use my big butt."
— Reid Wilkins (@ReidWilkins) March 7, 2021
- A third period that the Caps had control of most of the frame until the last eight or so minutes when the Flyers pushed back against their two goal deficit. I think the boys were solid enough defensively and got some big help from their young netminder.
- Brad Marchand cross checked someone in the back of the head only two days after labeling Tom Wilson‘s hit on Brandon Carlo a “cheapshot”.
- Nick Jensen has finally scored his first goal as a member of the Capitals. A just reward for a player that has been very good so far this season.
- It sure looks like Ilya Samsonov is back in a groove. Good lord some of the stops he made in the third after the Caps went up two were magical. That is exactly what we want to see in Capsland.
#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsFlyers A classy grey number @JoeBpXp pic.twitter.com/u0pmHPHGyF
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) March 8, 2021
Tuesday night the Caps finally return home and will play host to the New Jersey Devils. The East Division is incredibly tight at the top and you need to take every single point against a team like the Devils.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Flyers
Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington
