The Washington Capitals hosted the Philadelphia Flyers at Capital One Arena for the first time this season. The Caps seem to never actually play hockey these days, so it was good to see them battle another team instead of just each other at practice.
Alex Tuch stayed scalding hot to open the scoring early in the first frame. Sean Couturier tied the game with a nifty deflection Logan Thompson couldn’t stop. Jordan Kyrou gave Washington the lead back with a power-play goal, and Aliaksei Protas extended the advantage with a tip-in marker of his own.
Matvei Michkov got the Flyers back into the game with a third-period strike. Kyrou restored Washington’s two-goal lead with his second of the night. Tuch added one more into an empty net.
Capitals beat Flyers 5-2!
- The Capitals put together a good first period, and both teams played at a really fun pace overall. However, if you’re one of the two head coaches, it was probably a little too much fun to watch for fans, with chances flowing both ways. I think the Caps had more truly high-danger chances, though, which was good to see. Really wanted to see them put more than one behind Joseph Woll because the Flyers have recently tended to grow into games the later they get.
- What else can we say about Alex Tuch? It feels like something good happens every time he steps on the ice, and he’s even seemingly breathed new life into Dylan Strome‘s game. Tuch’s two goals see him at 9 already this season, making him the fifth player in franchise history to score eight-plus goals in his first 11 games with the Capitals. The others on that list are Alex Ovechkin (8), Dino Ciccarelli (12), Greg Polis (8), and Guy Charron (8).
- Jack St. Ivany made his Capitals debut and immediately made me want him to never leave the lineup for Dylan McIlrath or Justin Holl. He’s just way more mobile, good at the simple things, has a big frame, and already seems to know his role. He also recorded a point 15 seconds into his first shift and another in the third.
- The Capitals probably did exactly what Spencer Carbery asked of them in the second period: slow things down and control the game’s flow more. Logan Thompson could have basically slept through the period; aside from Sean Couturier’s tip-in goal, the Flyers didn’t put up much of a fight. The Caps really battled in the corners and were winning physical battles in all three zones. And that effort was spread throughout the lineup, which was great to see.
- Aliaksei Protas is finally on the board, scoring his first goal of the season in his 11th game. We waited way too long to hear Country Roads in the arena again, but hopefully this is the start of a hot streak for Big Pro. This guy scored 30 goals in this league. He has it in him.
- Matt Roy had the primary assist on Protas’s tally, and I thought he was just outrageously good overall in this game. His timing on his step-ups from defense, active stick, physicality, puck-moving, etc., was just perfection. If there were that long-spoken-about award for purely defensive defensemen, Roy would be near the top of the voting all day.
- Don’t look now, but Jordan Kyrou has points in five straight games after his two-goal game. He scored his first power-play goal with the Capitals in the second period. I have to say, outside of that somewhat lucky rebound chance that Kyrou potted, I really didn’t love how the power play looked overall. They’ve had a ton of time to practice it, and they still don’t seem to have defined roles. I think they need to keep reconfiguring the personnel to find combinations that work.
- Dylan Strome quietly racked up three assists in the win. He is the team’s leading scorer with 12 points (3g, 9a) in 11 games. Looks like a different player on that line with Tuch and Kyrou.
- What a wild shift from Ryan Leonard in the third period. He lost his stick, blocked a shot, kicked the puck to the corner, picked up his stick, received the outlet pass, carried the puck up ice, and then crushed a Flyers defenseman behind the net. He didn’t have his usual offensive touch all night, but showed he can still impact games on his off nights. I don’t think you can say the same about another 2023 first-round pick in this game.
- I’m keeping my ultra-positive bullet on Roy because that roughing penalty call was an utter joke. And then apparently the softest referee in the NHL, Michael Markovic, calls him for an unsportsmanlike conduct minor for letting him know how bad the call was.
No rest for the wicked, especially this time of year, so the Capitals are jumping on a flight to Music City, Tennessee, for a date with the Nashville Predators on Thursday night. We’ve got back-to-back action, folks.
