The Washington Capitals are playoff-bound after TJ Oshie scored a game-winning goal against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night. Oshie’s tally was no regular game-winner though as it was put into an empty net in a tie game with three minutes still remaining in regulation.
The bizarre circumstances came about due to the Flyers needing to beat the Capitals in 60 minutes to keep their playoff chances alive. The process made perfect sense until you realized that Philadelphia had already been eliminated from playoff contention just moments before head coach John Tortorella pulled goaltender Samuel Ersson and gave Oshie an empty net to shoot at.
Across the border in Montreal, the Detroit Red Wings found a goal from David Perron with just 3.3 seconds remaining in the third period to force their game against the Canadiens to overtime. The Red Wings earning a point ended the Flyers’ season but Tortorella still pulled Ersson.
“I got info on the Detroit game right after [the Capitals] scored their empty netter,” Tortorella said postgame. “I think it happened pretty close together but I’m pulling him and that was the right time to pull him. Didn’t know anything about what was going on with Detroit at that time but immediately after that our video guys told us that Detroit just went to overtime.”
Mere seconds after Philadelphia was sent packing by Detroit, the Flyers inadvertently returned the favor and eliminated the Red Wings by giving Washington an empty netter with nothing on the line. To make matters worse, Detroit ended up winning a shootout against Montreal and would have qualified for the playoffs had Philadelphia come up with an overtime or shootout win against the Capitals.
Ersson, the Flyers’ netminder, was handed a loss despite allowing just as many goals as his counterpart at the other end of the rink, Charlie Lindgren.
“We knew we had to win it in regulation,” Ersson said. “It was like going in being down one goal. Weird situation but it sucks coming out of it when we came up short.”
At the end of the day, they don’t ask how they ask how many, and the Capitals may deserve some good fortune after the roller coaster ride of this season.
“Almost every game was Game Seven for us,” Alex Ovechkin said postgame. “Sometimes different teams help us and we still in the battle. It was crazy situation till tonight. Detroit get a point and [the Flyers] still pull the goalie. They didn’t know that. But we’ll take it. Thanks, Philly.”
