UPDATE 10:25 AM EDT
Congratulations to our ticket trivia contest winner, Greg Newman. He was the first one to respond correctly to the Who Am I question.
The answer: Per-Erik "Pelle" Eklund.
We'll be doing at least one playoff ticket giveaway as a random drawing a day or two ahead of the game, so please keep trying. The response to these ticket giveaways has been tremendous.
Thank you as always for your support!
UPDATE 9:15 AM EDT
Want tickets to tonight's game? We have two free ones to give away. The first person to correctly answer this "Who Am I?" trivia question gets them:
"Today is my 49th birthday. I made an immediate impact on the Flyers in my rookie season, logging 66 points. Better known as a playmaker, I scored a goal in my NHL debut against the New Jersey Devils. I now work as a scout. WHO AM I?"
Send replies by email to
[email protected] with Flyers-Caps contest in the subject line.
The winner will be notified immediately and the tickets left in his/her name at the will call window at the Wells Fargo Center.
PREVIEW 4:45 AM EDT
With just nine games left in the regular season, the Philadelphia Flyers (42-23-8) are looking to simultaneously get their offensive and defensive games clicking in time for the playoffs. Tonight, they take on the enigmatic Washington Capitals (37-30-6) at the Wells Fargo Center. The game starts at 7 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast locally on CSN Philly.
This is the fourth and final meeting between the teams this season. The Flyers have won the last two matches -- both on the road -- after the Capitals took the first game.
It seems like ages ago when the Capitals last came to town. Back on Oct. 20, Washington ran its season record to 7-0-0 with a 5-2 win in Philadelphia. That night, the Flyers got off to a good start that night but collapsed in the final minute of the first period and never got back on track again.
The bottom had dropped out for the Capitals -- who fired coach Bruce Boudreau right before Thanksgiving -- by the time the clubs reconvened in Washington on Dec. 13. In the midst of a seven-game winning streak, the Flyers steamrolled a confused Caps team, 5-1. That game was one of Philly's most dominating 60-minute efforts of the season.
On March 4, Ilya Bryzgalov began a run of four shutouts in five game when he made a 1-0 lead stand up against the Capitals on a night where the visiting Flyers got outshot (34-23) and outchanced. It also helped considerably that the Flyers (who only had one power play of their own) did not take a single minor penalty in the game. After a scoreless first period, rookie Eric Wellwood tipped home a Pavel Kubina point shot for the game's lone goal.
Wellwood also scored the Flyers' only goal on Tuesday night; a 2-1 home loss to the Florida Panthers. Overall, the club is 7-2-1 in its last 10 games. However, the club has had continuous problems with falling behind in games.
Philly has yielded the first goal in 14 of its last 19 games, and has fallen behind 2-0 in each of the last three matches. Thankfully, the club has excelled at comebacks and has received greatly improved team defense and goaltending to keep the games close.
Slow offensive starts have become a chronic problem. The Flyers have held a lead in the first 10 minutes a game exactly twice since the calendar flipped to 2012: a span of 37 games. They last did it against the Islanders on March 15 (Zac Rinaldo's bad angle goal). Prior to that, you have to go back to Kimmo Timonen's power play goal at the 2:27 mark of the opening on Jan. 17 against Minnesota.
Sometimes the energy has been there early for the Flyers, and they've had their share of chances but just couldn't pot a goal. There have a been a few narrow misses where they've taken a lead shortly past the midway point of the first period. Many other times, it has taken the team until late in the first period -- or beyond -- to start creating scoring opportunities. It has been a puzzling phenomenon because the team tended to get off to quick starts and scored the game's first goal the majority of the time earlier in the season.
As far as the defensive aspects of the game go, the Flyers have been playing much better on a game-in and game-out basis since the final five periods of their western Canada road
trip. Of course, goaltending has a lot to do with it. Bryzgalov has been the clear-cut most valuable player on the team in the month of March.
Washington has played maddeningly inconsistent hockey under Dale Hunter. Just when it seems like the club has turned the corner and is about to reel off a winning streak to propel them back to the top of the Southeast Division, they turn in a few clunkers in a row. Then when it looks like the Capitals will fall out of the playoffs, they win a game or two to temporarily re-solidify their place.
Right now, Washington is clinging by a thread to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They have fallen five points behind the Florida Panthers in the race for the Southeast Division title. That would be very tough to make up over the nine games left on both clubs' schedules. Washington is 5-4-1 over its last 10 games.
Both the Capitals the resurgent Buffalo Sabres have 80 points. However, the Caps also have a game in hand -- tonight's. Washington does hold a virtually insurmountable tiebreaker advantage over Buffalo (eight more regulation/OT wins) if the Sabres do not eclipse them in total points.
One positive sign for the Caps: Alex Ovechkin has been on a tear of late. He's racked up five goals in the last four games to bring his season total to 32 (13 on the power play). For his career, he has racked up 22 goals and 37 points in 25 games against the Flyers.
The Caps are still racked by key injuries. Top center Nicklas Bäckström (concussion) has made progress but is not ready to be cleared to play. Veteran goalie Tomas Vokoun remains sidelined by a groin pull. Alexander Semin has been nursing some nagging injuries and took a maintenance day yesterday but will play tonight.
For the Flyers, apart from assorted bumps, bruises and nagging injuries, the club will dress a relatively healthy lineup. James van Riemsdyk (foot surgery) and Andrej Meszaros (back surgery) will be out until the playoffs.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr
Wellwood - Briere - Voracek
Read - Schenn - Simmonds
Talbot - Couturier - Rinaldo
Carle - Timonen
Grossmann - Coburn
Lilja - Kubina
Bryzgalov
[Bobrovsky]
CAPITALS
Ovechkin - Laich - Brouwer
Johansson - Aucoin - Semin
Chimera - Perreault - Knuble
Hendricks - Halpern - Beagle
Alzner - Wideman
Hamrlik - Green
Schultz - Carlson
Neuvirth
[Holtby]
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