Photo: @PhillyGirl1437
In the second period, Caps defenseman Brooks Orpik was injured after absorbing a painful body check from Flyers forward Ryan White. While Orpik left the game due to injury, this hit will further his legendary toughness– partly because of an image tweeted by @PhillyGirl1437.
On Monday night the Flyers and their fans intended to honor founder Ed Snider, who died last Tuesday due to bladder cancer. The organization gave away bracelets and painted Snider’s initials behind the goals. Lauren Hart, the team’s longtime anthem singer, sang “God Bless America” with Snider’s name and 67 on the back of her team jersey (the team’s first season was 1967-68).
But Flyers fans, some of whom had reportedly been tailgating since the early afternoon, showed boorish behavior that only got worse as the the President Trophy-winning Capitals humbled the home team in the third period.
It was undignified. It was an embarrassment. It was– as Al Koken best put it– a “clown show.”
Let’s recap.
After falling behind 4-1 late in the third period, the Philadelphia Flyers tried to hurt people. Flyers forward Pierre-Édouard Bellemare checked Dmitry Orlov in the numbers, causing the young Russian to slam into the boards head first. Orlov has a history of concussion problems.
It was a chickenshit hit.
In Game Three, the Washington Capitals magnanimously spotted an early goal to the grieving Philadelphia Flyers. But dirty play by the home team squandered that good will, so the Flyers had to be put down. Without mercy.
Philadelphia, feeling the high of a pregame tribute to Ed Snider, scored in the first minute off the stick of Michael Raffl. The Caps returned fire with a power-play goal, Marcus Johansson’s tip-in of John Carlson’s slapper.
Alex Ovechkin scored the lone goal of the second period, the end result of some great neutral-zone work by the top line.
In the third, Evgeny Kuznetsov joined the rodeo, grabbing a weird bounce and pantsing Steve Mason to put the Flyers in a two-goal hole. Alex Ovechkin buried it during a supersized power play late in the game, but a bunch of hardcore Philly fans had already headed towards the exit by then. They didn’t even see Jay Beagle make it a six spot.
Caps beat Flyers 6-1! Caps take a 3-0 series lead!
By Peter Hassett 5 years ago
Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik is questionable to return after a hard check along the boards by Philadelphia forward Ryan White.
Orpik was caught in a vulnerable position along the boards. White appears to hit him up high in the back and the head, as well as making contact with the knees. Orpik falls to the ice and is unable to get up.
By Chris Cerullo 5 years ago
He hid behind the official.
Alex Ovechkin just notched his second playoff goal, and Steve Mason is starting to think heavy hockey thoughts.
Let us tell you the story of how the Caps took the lead in Game Three.
As NBCSN came back from first intermission, Pierre McGuire provided an overview of the game so far. At the same time, directly behind McGuire, a Flyers fan with choice seats flipped off the Capitals bench while taking a photo.
Pierre leaned over to block the angle, which made it even funnier.
Earlier this evening, Braden Holtby got a reminder that he was no longer in front of his hometown fans. Before warm-ups, Holtby always walks out of the locker room and does his pregame visualizations from the Caps bench.
“It’s just visualization techniques, breathing techniques,” Holtby said to RMNB in 2013. “It’s just one of the things I do I try to do to get my mind in the same frame every night. It gets a lot of attention but a lot of guys do it, you just don’t see it.”
Monday night, Holtby had an unwanted guest join him while he tried to get zen: a Flyers fan.
Photo: Patrick Smith
The Caps are in Philadelphia for Game Three. After taking a 2-0 series lead at home, the team now has the opportunity to basically put this series out of reach for the Flyers. Only 4 teams in NHL history have ever come from behind and won a series after going down 3 games to none, one being the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers that eventually reached the Stanley Cup Finals.
Tonight we’ll see if Steve Mason can recover from the laser beam that Jason Chimera put past him in Game Two and if the Flyers have learned that Alex Ovechkin is best not left alone.
Crash the Schenn. Liveblog below.
By Chris Cerullo 5 years ago
Photo by Patrick Smith
The value of hits is a point of contention among hockey analysts. There is little doubt that having more hits than an opponent likely means that the other team had better possession. This may not be exclusive as some teams rely and game plan for being physical and others do not, but the assumption is usually correct. Some have relegated hits to the intangible realm, where there may be some value, but it is unquantifiable for now. Some believe hits to have great value to slow down, frustrate or actually affect the game of an opponent.
Let’s take a look at Game Two to see if there was any effect on Caps’ physicality.
By Spenser Smallwood 5 years ago
