The Capitals’ gauntlet of intra-division games continued on Sunday afternoon with a matinee meet-up with the Philadelphia Flyers. A combination of factors led to the extinguishing of Washington’s win streak, but at least Jason Chimera earned some good will.
Starting on the top line, Jay Beagle quickly squandered the opportunity with an offensive-zone penalty that Claude Girioux converted for a goal. Wayne Simmonds made it 2-0 Flyers in the second period by knocking in a rebound.
Two-goal hole. Big trouble, but then the secondary scoring showed up. Tom Wilson nabbed a turnover forced by Michael Latta to get the Caps on the board, then Joel Ward knuckled a loose puck to tie it up before the second intermission.
The Flyers were buzzing late in the third and finally broke though when Michael Del Zotto ripped one through traffic and past Holtby to put the Flyers up late. The Caps had a late-game power play, but couldn’t come back. Bummer.
Flyers beat Caps 3-2.
- I thought we’d see Andre Burakovsky on the top line again today. Despite some underwhelming play in neutral, Burra has been good as the team’s top right wing. Trotz presumably wanted more physicality or aggression, so he scratched Burakovsky. Instead, we got Jay Beagle on the top line. Beagle forced the Caps to go down a man with a penalty in the offensive zone on his second shift. The Flyers scored, and Marcus Johansson took the RW spot on the next shift. Trotz must hate his 1RWs.
- The Caps were pretty sleepy in the first half of this game. I blame the fire alarm at their hotel last night. Instead of looking like a long shot for a wild card, the Flyers actually looked like a good team. Something woke the Caps up in the back half, and I refuse to believe it’s the subject of the next bullet.
- Even a hardliner, anti-fighting pacifist would struggle to condemn Jason Chimera for knocking out Zac Rinaldo. Mike Milbury, who is not qualified to hold his job, said Rinaldo was showing “restraint” during the play in which he elbowed Mike Green in the head.
- I actually think two strong shifts by the defense– one by Mike Green and one by Orpik and Carlson– were the precipitating agents in the Caps comeback. The Caps are at their best when the defense is involved, and they certainly were that today.
- Tom Wilson ties his goal-scoring from last season with three. That was his first goal since the end of November and his first this season that was not assisted by the top line. Wilson usually makes himself conspicuous in Flyers games for other reasons, so this was a refreshing change for the player. Also, this:
- I did not enjoy the national anthem. I did not enjoy the intermission coverage. I did not enjoy the play-by-play. That last one in particular. Bruce Orpik, Eric Fear, Andre Burakovsky disguised as Evgeny Kuznetsov– yikes.
- Cam Schilling got a light work load, but he fared better than Jack Hillen has of late. I’d prefer if Cam would get another shot against the Penguins.
- The Caps PP was not good. The Flyers PK was very good. One or both of those statements are true. Playing against a team as prone to naughtiness as Philly, the Caps needed much more from their power play, who went 0 for 5.
- The Laich-Fehr-Ward shutdown line could not contain Giroux and the Flyers’ scoring line. They were deeply in the red in shot differential.
- Braden Holtby was totes interfered with by Bellemare on the Flyers GWG, but what are ya gonna do? That little goof ended the team’s season-long win streak at four games.
Apropos of nothing, and in lieu of a Joe B suit of the day, this is how Caps goalie coach responded to our tweet about top-line Beagle:
@russianmachine pic.twitter.com/1S2xHsXymU
— Mitch Korn (@mitchkorn35) February 22, 2015
(I love him.)
That wasn’t the best performance by the Capitals, nor was it the best lineup. A bad power play and a diminished top line gave the Flyers the edge– despite Braden Holtby’s better efforts. So much for the win streak.
Alright, no hockey till Wednesday night. It’s the dang Penguins again, and they’re gonna be ornery. See you then.
p.s. Snapshot coming tonight.
