The Washington Capitals emerged from the trade deadline determined. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Flyers, Tuesday’s opponent, are ready for the Weird Year to be over.
Short king Conor Sheary opened scoring with a wide-angle goal to make it 11 on the season. Sean Couturier scored Philly’s sole goal, a tip-in after a turnover. Tom Wilson replied with a power-play goal, Backstrom added another, and even Carl Hagelin got on the board before the first period was over.
Anthony Mantha scored his first goal as a Cap in the second period, a sneaky shot from the slot. In the third, Alex Ovechin joined in on the fun with a power-play goal.
Caps win!
For a remixed team, here’s a remixed Bailamos:
- Yeah, I think the Philadelphia Flyers are over it. HockeyViz puts them around a 5 percent chance of making the postseason after this loss. What a huge disappointment for them after a solid 2019-20 showing. They didn’t have a whole lot to offer tonight.
- And the Caps, well, they were just having fun, controlling two-thirds of the five-on-five expected goals in the first period, cruising to a big early lead and — surprisingly — not blowing it.
- Though goalie Ilya Samsonov tried. He played the puck behind the net and promptly handed it to the Flyers for their lonely goal. He should doing stop that.
- Anthony Mantha made his first appearance as a Washington Capital one day after joining the team. Mantha played solid second line minutes and appeared on the second power-play unit, notching a point in the latter and a goal in the former. The headline photo here is his first Caps group hug, after his first Caps point, coming shortly before his first Caps goal. I like this player a lot, though I feel regretful about the circumstances that brought him here. But we’ve already talked about that! Mantha’s goal is a good illustration of his skill: both productive in volume and creative in quality.
- Also Ian clued me into this special Mantha detail: Millie Mantha!
- I had convinced myself that Alex Ovechkin was on a goal drought. It was two games. The Caps scored [checks spreadsheet] a bazillion goals between then and now, but I’m glad Ovi and his 22nd goal got to join in. I’m also glad, with trepidation, that his family got to watch him do so in person for the first time in a long time.
#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsFlyers pic.twitter.com/m1umMSWOJ1
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) April 13, 2021
Well that was a beatdown. Let’s see what Chris has to say about it tomorrow, but I don’t have anything to complain about. Beyond Sammy’s goof and Jake being gone and I browned the garlic in my aglio y olio too much and no chicken mcnuggets and my continued grievances against the imperialist, white-supremacist, capitalist patriarchy. But besides that: all is good!
Anyway, go Caps. Let’s see how far this road goes.
RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Flyers
Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington
