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Three for three against Philly: Caps beat Flyers 5-4

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Saturday night gave us our third Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers matchup in less than a week. The Caps were looking to sweep all three while the Flyers tried to salvage something from this mini-series.

Daniel Sprong stayed hot and opened the game’s scoring with a rebound try that found its way over Brian Elliott. Carl Hagelin extended the Caps lead to two as he also jammed home a rebound into the Philadelphia net.

James van Riemsdyk capitalized on some defensive miscues to get the Flyers on the board. Nick Jensen quickly responded with a snipe off the rush to restore the lead back to two. Nolan Patrick was the beneficiary of yet another mess of a shift in the Caps defensive zone and halved that lead again. Alex Ovechkin struck from his office on the power play to make sure the period ended with the Caps in control.

Nic Dowd with yet another goal against the Flyers to give the Caps their first three-goal advantage of the game. Shayne Gostisbehere added on to the high-scoring night. Claude Giroux with the goaltender pulled.

Caps beat Flyers 5-4!

  • The Capitals came out firing and definitely had the better of the play in the first period. An early Claude Giroux tip attempt was really the only dangerous chance the Flyers could come up with in the first twenty minutes. I thought Evgeny Kuznetsov in particular was very good to start the game and he was rewarded for some stellar defensive positioning with an assist on the Caps first goal.
  • Lars Eller returned to the lineup for the Caps after missing time due to personal reasons. He promptly was forced to leave the game after only three shifts as he suffered a reported “lower-body injury” and it was announced that he would not return. That does not sound good. Let us very much hope it’s just precautionary and not something that could sideline him long-term. The Caps need their Tiger.
  • Jakub Vrana grabbed an assist on Daniel Sprong‘s goal which gives him points in five straight games and he now has nine points in his last eight games. The snake is biting.

  • The defensive zone work in the second period was pretty atrocious. I don’t know what the heck happened in the first intermission but they need to do the exact opposite from here on. At five-on-five the Flyers outshot the Caps 14 to 5, out-attempted them 27 to 13, out-scoring chanced them 13 to seven, and out-high danger chanced them five to zero. I personally think the Caps fourth line had two high danger chances on the same shift that they just flubbed but the Natural Stat Trick algorithm disagrees. Still not good though.
  • Nick Jensen is flying around rinks right now. He took advantage of his elite wheels to track down a loose puck and then absolutely sniped it into the top shelf for his second goal in four games. As the President of the Nick Jensen fan club, I will be taking $3 membership dues for those that wish to join.
  • Brian Elliott looked incredibly shaky in the Philly net right off the jump in this game. He was removed from the game for Carter Hart after giving up three goals on only ten shots. That move sure seemed to spark the Flyers as they dominated the puck in that second period thereafter.
  • Alex Ovechkin scored the 10th goal of his season and the 716th of his career. In the process, he not only moved one goal behind Phil Esposito for the sixth-most in NHL history, but he also secured sole possession of second all-time in shots on goal. His third shot of the night put him past Jaromir Jagr (5,637 shots) and he now sits behind only Ray Bourque (6,209 shots).

  • Didn’t think either team was great in the third. The Caps had less to lose so I guess that’s better for them. Would still like the Caps to maybe put a team away for good one day and not have to sweat for the final ten minutes of games. Please. For the love of the hockey gods.
  • The Islanders are apparently never going to lose again so the Caps basically keeping up with them for the past ten games is a welcome sight.
  • Carl Hagelin was a noticeable Caps skater for me. He got on the board for the third time this season and was the leader for the fourth line into the zone numerous times. Always works hard.

Next up, the Caps continue their road warring ways with a trip to Buffalo to take on the beleaguered, heavily struggling, and Jack Eichel-less Sabres.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Flyers

Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington

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