Fading late on the road against a rested Flyers: numbers for the morning after

The Washington Capitals couldn’t make it four in a row in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. The Caps fought back into their game against the Flyers but inevitably came up short, suffering a 4-2 loss on the road.

Wish they had at least gotten this one into overtime. Need to beat the Predators and head into the break on a winning note.

• The Capitals seemingly controlled play for a lot of this game, but they were giving up way too many big-time chances to the Flyers. I felt like Philly deserved their lead, and then the Caps fought back and probably deserved to get this one into the extra frame. In the third at five-on-five, the Capitals finished up 18-12 in shot attempts, 8-6 in shots on goal, 7-2 in scoring chances, and 4-1 in high-danger chances. They just couldn’t get that final penalty kill.
• Justin Sourdif took that late penalty, and I really think he needs to do a better job there. I saw a lot of complaining about the call, and I can understand that, from a game management perspective, given the score and how much time was left on the clock, but in my opinion, it was a very avoidable situation altogether. Sourdif showed that despite his phenomenal assimilation into a prime NHL role this year, he’s still a rookie. He gets caught flat-footed and beaten to inside ice. The Capitals killed off Philly’s first two power plays, but couldn’t get the crucial third.
• Anthony Beauvillier had another really great night, providing the primary assist on the first Capitals goal and scoring the second. The Caps would be a really deep team if they were to make a trade for a top-six winger, like they apparently want to, and have a guy like Beauvillier in their bottom-six.

• Hendrix Lapierre went right back to playing less than seven minutes (6:43) in a game. With him on the ice, the Capitals did not give up a single shot on goal, scoring chance, or high-danger chance. I know he’s not your first go-to guy when you need a goal, but it feels like his shifts have been sparking some great momentum lately.
• I don’t think you can say anything bad about Clay Stevenson in his second start in as many days. He made 19 stops on 22 saves, and a lot of those stops were very difficult. According to MoneyPuck, he allowed 0.25 more goals than expected, but I don’t think he could have done much about any of the “shots” that beat him.
• The Capitals’ loss to the Flyers ended what was a six-game win streak against their Metropolitan Division neighbors to the north. Unfortunately, it coincided with the New York Islanders beating the Pittsburgh Penguins, so all of the ground gained on Monday night was given right back.