Caps vs Flyers

Caps at Flyers Pregame: Glass Case of Emotion

Photo: Patrick Smith

After winning both home games, the Caps are in Philadelphia tonight to see if they can’t put the Flyers in a stranglehold. It won’t be easy. The Flyers are mightily pissed about games one and two, and they’ve got sentimental reasons not to play like garbage tonight.

The saying goes, “you’re not in trouble until you lose at home.” Here’s rooting for trouble tonight at Wells Fargo center in what is sure to be an emotionally charged game.

Caps lead the series 2-0. Puck drops at 7 PM on CSN-DC.

Team	Record	Possession	PDO	Power Play	Penalty Kill
Washington Capitals	56-18-8	52.0%	101.1	21.9% (5th)	85.2% (2nd)
Philadelphia Flyers	41-27-14	50.1%	100.5	18.9% (11th)	80.5% (20th)

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By Peter Hassett 7 years ago

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Capitals Bracing for Emotional Game Three as Flyers Play First Home Game Since Death of Ed Snider

Photo: @MonSportsNet

Monday night, the Philadelphia Flyers will play their first game at Wells Fargo Center since their owner and founder Ed Snider died last week at the age of 83. Snider was not a moneyman who remained distant from the team he owned. He knew his players personally, he was outspoken, and he was a legend in Philadelphia sports.

Before Game Three, Snider will be honored with a tribute video while fans will be lit up with orange wristbands. His initials are painted behind both nets. Snider was a man who touched many Flyers players and fans deeply, including some who now play for the Washington Capitals. Home ice advantage can be overstated. The opening minutes of Game Three, however, promise to emotional and deafening.

“The last week was a little tough,” Flyers captain Claude Giroux said after Monday’s morning skate. “I think it was tough on a lot of people, and that includes the organization, everybody that was ever involved with the Flyers. I think ex-players that have a relationship with Mr. Snider, I think it’s going to be pretty emotional.”

But, Giroux added, “We’re here to win a hockey game.”

So are the Capitals. Washington is looking to go up 3-0 in a best of seven playoffs series for the first time in team history.

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By Chris Gordon 7 years ago

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Here’s How Not to Defend Alex Ovechkin on the Power Play

I love the seagull. (Photshop by HFBoards user @IPD)

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has led the NHL in power-play goals over the last four seasons (19 in 2015-16, 25 in 2014-15, 24 in 2013-14, 16 in 2012-13). Oodles of those goals have been off his one-timer from the left circle, an Ovi Shot From The Ovi Spot. This is not a secret. Twenty nine teams know about this technique and every single one of them has a plan for it.

Which is why Ovi’s second-period power-play goal against the Flyers on Saturday was so curious.

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By Ian Oland 7 years ago

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Flyers Forward Ryan White Suggests Caps are Getting Favorable Treatment From Officials

Photo: Geoff Burke

The eighth-seeded Philadelphia Flyers are down 2-0 in their first-round series against the Washington Capitals. Despite outshooting the Caps 61-54, the Flyers have been outscored 6-1. The Caps have received superior goaltending, but if you ask Flyers forward Ryan White, something else is afoot.

“We’re playing the Presidents’ Trophy champs,” White said to the Courier-Post’s Mark Trible. “They’re gonna get a lot of calls. Everyone wants them to keep winning. We’ve just gotta keep playing. We’ve got to push through it and keep our noses to the grindstone and keep getting at it.”

White suggests that the officiating has been slanted towards the Capitals so far in the series. He is wrong.

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By Chris Cerullo 7 years ago

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Overlooked During the Regular Season, the Capitals’ Penalty Kill is Now Playing a Starring Role in the Playoffs

Photo: Rob Carr

The Capitals penalty kill was the second-best unit in the league during the regular season, killing 85.2 percent of opponents’ chances. Yet on special teams, it was overshadowed by the power play, which finished fifth. While the PK doesn’t provide between-the-legs passes or booming one-timers, it has kept the Capitals in control of their first-round series against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Washington’s penalty kill is a perfect eight for eight. Going back to the last five games of the regular season, the opponents’ power plays have been stopped 21 times in a row. Despite outshooting the Capitals 61-54 overall in the first two games, the Flyers have scored just one goal. Washington has six, including three power-play goals, good for a 2-0 series lead.

“We got our butts on the line,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said after Saturday’s Game Two loss.

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By Chris Gordon 7 years ago

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Braden Holtby Has Stopped 60 of 61 Shots Through the First Two Games of Round One

Photo: Rob Carr

Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby is stopping pucks this postseason at a rate of 98.4 percent. On the other side of the ice, Philadelphia Flyers goalie Steve Mason is saving just 88.9 percent of shots on net. In Game Two of the first round on Saturday, Holtby turned aside all but one of Philly’s 42 shots. Despite the Capitals getting heavily outplayed at even-strength, they won 4-1.

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By Chris Gordon 7 years ago

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You Need to See Alex Ovechkin’s Reaction to Mike Richards’ Big Hit

Saturday night, Mike Richards delivered one of the biggest bodychecks of the Caps-Flyers series, a jolting shoulder-to-shoulder hit of Nick Cousins at center ice. The hit was so ferocious, Alex Ovechkin got up out of his seat and let out, as one reader described it, a banshee scream.

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By Ian Oland 7 years ago

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The Caps Were Compassionate About Steve Mason’s Bad Goal But the Internet Was Savage

Photoshop via @dasimonetta

In the second period, Jason Chimera scored what I’m going to assume is the flukiest goal of the postseason. At center ice, Chimera deflected a Karl Alzner clearing attempt from the Caps defensive zone. Flyers goaltender Steve Mason failed to get his stick in proper position and the puck slowly rolled through his pads. After the game, Capitals players felt sympathy for Mason.

“I couldn’t even watch the replay of it,” Braden Holtby said. “As a fellow goalie, you never want to see that happen. As a competitor you just don’t want to see it and you feel for the other guy. He’ll come back and he’ll come back hard.”

Holtby’s teammates expressed similar sympathy.

“When I was a little kid, Andrei Markov scored a goal from behind the net,” Alex Ovechkin said. “Sometimes that kind of stuff happens.”

Said Alzner: “I’m no goalie, but I’ve tried to handle spinning pucks before and you have no idea where they’re going. It’s unfortunate for him, for them.”

Meanwhile, the internet had a field day.

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By Ian Oland 7 years ago

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With Their Backs Against the Wall, the Flyers May Turn to Michal Neuvirth in Net

Photo: Rob Carr

Steve Mason knew the questions were coming. He did not hide from them. For him, the only way out of one of the most embarrassing moments of his life was through it.

“I messed up,” Mason told reporters after a 4-1 loss in Game Two of the first round against the Washington Capitals.

Less than two and a half minutes into the second period, Mason allowed a rolling ground ball to pass through his legs. Mason had made an impressive save a minute earlier, possibly tweaking a muscle, but he denied that played any part in what happened next: a puck deflected by Jason Chimera at the redline that slid into the back of the net with Mason frozen in place.

“It’s my fault and I realize that,” Mason said.

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By Chris Gordon 7 years ago

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Breaking Down Jason Chimera’s Game-Winning Snipe

Jason+Chimera+Montreal+Canadiens+v+Washington+ORWe9_5Yad8x

Photo: Patrick McDermott

Early in the second period of Game Two, with his team clinging to a 1-0 advantage, Jason Chimera stepped onto the ice, determined to give his team a two-goal lead. What followed was an impact shift, ending in a no-doubt-about-it goal from the Ice Cheetah, sending Verizon Center into a frenzy.

This snipe was so beautiful that it’s no doubt the most replayed goal from NHL action on Saturday night. On top of the highlight-reel quality of the goal, it also put Chimera in special company among Caps’ playoff goal scorers:

Jason Chimera scored his 6th career playoff GWG, tying Peter Bondra for first place on the #Caps postseason game-winning goals list.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) April 17, 2016

Let’s take a look at the Xs and Os of the game-winning goal.

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By Patrick Holden 7 years ago

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