Welp, the Flyers managed to give up yet another lead to a divisional rival and lose 3-2, but thankfully not in a shootout this time. (Although we probably could have taken that extra point)
The first period started off well enough with plenty of offensive pressure from the Flyers. The guys in orange were then given an opportunity early on as Karl Alzner took a hooking call against Michael Raffl. Nothing really resulted from it but when it was over Alzner committed an obvious interference call on Gudas which resulted in another Flyers powerplay. Again the Flyers were unable to convert and Caps were able to kill off back to back minor penalties. About a minute and a half from the period ending the Flyers were able to turn some quality offensive pressure into a goal. Nick Cousins picked the puck up low against the boards who fed it up to Shayne Gostisbehere who gave it up to Michael Del Zotto. MDZ accepted the pass and fired a slapshot from the point which made its way past Braden Holtby. It was thought that Sam Gagner might have tipped it but the goal was eventually awarded to Del Zotto. With Gostisbehere’s assist he’s now on an 8 game point streak. 1-0 Flyers!
.@MichaelDelZotto with the laser #PHIvsWSH pic.twitter.com/oCGOwA1KPN
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 7, 2016
It should be noted that Cousins’ had a particularly strong first period but finished the game with an on-ice corsi differential of -7 which was the lowest on the team. However Cousins also had a total of 5 defensive zone starts but 0 offensive zone starts which shows Hakstol is keeping Cousins, at least for this game, in a defensive role and attempting the fill the Couturier gap at even strength. The first period ended strongly in the Flyers favor. They had 14 shots on goal while the Caps only finished with 7. The Flyers also had 8 scoring chances compared to the 4 the Capitals had. They dominated in possession stats and well that only left us with one question. Could the Flyers keep it up against the league’s best? (obvious sarcastic question) The Flyers weren’t able to generate much in the second period but they did have an incredible opportunity when Wayne Simmonds found Mark Streit from down low. The Flyers were on the powerplay and Streit had almost a wide open net but couldn’t get a good shot off and Holtby made the save. Not to downplay Holtby but Streit really did get off a bad shot. Holtby, nonetheless, made plenty of tough saves throughout the night and smothered plenty of the Flyers offensive chances and really was a huge reason the game didn’t end in the Flyers favor. However, the Capitals did generate plenty of offense themselves in the second. They outshot the Flyers 14-8 and Alex Ovechkin tallied his 30th of the season when he redirected a shot from Alzner up past Mason with around 4 minutes left in the period. Tied 1-1. Around a minute after that Dmitry Orlov was able to walk in and snipe a shot past Mason putting the Caps on top and the Flyers in a bad place after getting walked on for most of the period. 2-1 Capitals. The third period started just like everyone expected it to with Nick Schultz absolutely blasting one from the point off of a faceoff win from Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. Alright I guess no one expected that but Schultz was able to breath life back into the Flyers. Tied 2-2.
In the Nick of time #PHIvsWSH pic.twitter.com/C2BWoAfOvN — Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 7, 2016
When I say breath life back into the Flyers I absolutely just mean for that one moment in time since Washington took over from there, shutting down the Flyers left and right and keeping them from any high danger level scoring chances throughout the third. The tie was surrendered when Matt Niskanen, of all people, was able to skate from end-to-end and take advantage of a lazy Flyers’ unit who let him walk right in and chip one by Mason. Obviously there was some poor communication on the ice, or maybe even none at all, but that shouldn’t be allowed from a player like Matt Niskanen. As if the game wasn’t weird enough already with a Nick Schultz goal. 3-2 Crapitals.
Niskanen calls his own number and takes it all the way. #PHIvsWSHhttps://t.co/0fOzJehARW
— NHL (@NHL) February 7, 2016
That would just about do it. The game ended just as ugly as this whole weekend has been for the Flyers. Only grabbing 1 point from 2 divisional rivals is tough to swallow, especially with the Flyers only 4 points out of playoff spot. They’re gonna have to get back on track and make sure they don’t light those 2 games in hand they have over the Devils on fire.
Goals:
Del Zotto (4)
Schultz (1)
Assists:
Gostisbehere (17)
Cousins (1)
Bellemare (3)
Special Teams: The Flyers went 0/5 on the powerplay which has been on again/off again this season. The PK did finish with a perfect night at 2 kills.
Player of the game: Honestly, not one player really stood out all game besides……like Nick Schultz because how often does he score? But Braden Holtby really did put up a solid performance so I guess I’ll give it to him.
Sidenote: Hope the Panthers win the Superbowl tonight!
*All advanced statistics are taken from war-on-ice.com
You can follow Ryan at @flywalker1975 on Twitter.
