In one of the more memorable games played at the Wells Fargo Center this season, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Washington Capitals 5-4 in overtime last night. It was a seesaw affair that saw the Flyers trail 1-0, lead 2-1 and the fall behind by a 4-2 count before rallying late to force overtime.
Ruslan Fedotenko scored the game-winner in overtime after Kimmo Timonen tied the game with 10 seconds remaining in regulation. Timonen (one goal, two assists) and Claude Giroux (one goal, two assists) played like possessed men in crunch time. Giroux triggered the third period comeback with a power play goal.
Earlier in the game, Philadelphia got goals from Max Talbot and Matt Read. Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 25 of 29 shots to earn the victory.
The game's emotional flare was lit at 5:04 of the third period with the score tied 2-2. Washington agitator Steve Oleksy knocked Flyers captain Claude Giroux roughly to the ice with an open-ice hit. It was not a dirty hit but from the vantage point of Flyers' winger Jakub Voracek, it was tough to tell if Oleksy had made contact with Giroux's head (he didn't).
Voracek did the right thing. He defended his captain.
The Flyers' leading scorer made a beeline for Oleksey, who saw him coming. Oleksey met Voracek with a pop in the face. Voracek proceeded to pull Oleksy's jersey over his head and pummel him with right hands, opening a cut that required stitches.
After conferring, referees Steve Kozari and Francis Charron gave Voracek 19 minutes worth of penalties (two for instigation with an automatic 10-minute misconduct, two for failing to remove his visored helmet before fighting, and five for fighting) to five for Oleksy. As a result, the Flyers were left shorthanded for four minutes.
Voracek, who had never fought before in his NHL career, wasn't aware he had to take off his visor. But, really, there was no time to remove the bucket. Oleksy wanted the fight as soon as he saw Voracek coming and actually was the one who struck the first blow. At that point, the fight was on.
In my opinion, a more accurate set of penalties in the situation would have been the same calls on Voracek but an roughing minor given to Oleksy in addition to the five for fighting. Washington would still have had a two minute power play from the confrontation.
With a worried-looking Voracek sitting in the penalty box, a calm Scott Hartnell skated over to the box, nodding in approval of Voracek's actions and calmly tapping him on the gloves. The message he delivered: "We'll gladly kill the penalties for you."
Unfortunately for the Flyers, it didn't work out that way.
Giroux started out the penalty kill with a burning desire to be a one-man PK machine in gratitude to Voracek and the team. The captain hounded the puck all over the ice. First, he created a shorthanded scoring opportunity. In the Philadelphia end of the ice, he commandeered the puck.... and then proceeded to flub a clearing attempt up the middle.
Marcus Johansson claimed Giroux's giveaway and ripped a shot past Bryzgalov to put the Capitals ahead, 4-3. The goal left the Flyers' usually stellar penalty killing units shaken.
On the second half of the penalty kill, Philly was passive as Washington rotated the puck crisply around the offensive zone. Alexander Ovechkin drilled a one-timer into the net. Just like that, Washington had a two-goal lead. A thoroughly frustrated Bryzgalov heaved his Gatorade bottle as the Capitals celebrated nearby.
Frustration got the best of Hartnell, too. Twenty-seven seconds after play resumed, Hartnell took a bad slashing penalty. The Flyers managed to kill off this one.
To their credit, Philadelphia was determined not to go down quietly as Voracek sat in the box for the remainder of regulation. Giroux and Timonen led the way.
With Troy Brouwer in the box for holding, Giroux hammered a rocket of a one-timer for a power play goal that trimmed the deficit to one goal. Giroux NEEDED that goal -- he was still visibly angry at himself for the turnover -- and his emotional reaction afterward showed that he wasn't finished yet.
Philadelphia dominated play for the remainder of the game. The Flyers won most of the puck battles and generated all of the good scoring chances, while Washington clung on for dear life. The only question was whether the Flyers would be able to nab the equalizer before time ran out. They almost didn't.
With Bryzgalov pulled for an extra attacker, the Flyers held the puck deep in Washington territory. Giroux passed the puck out to Timonen, whose shot produced a juicy rebound in the slot. A wide-open Hartnell attempted to pounce on the puck but broke his stick, as the scoring chance went awry.
Giroux regained the puck and passed it back out to Timonen. Timonen skated a half-stride closer to center point from the left point angle from which he unleashed the previous shot. Timonen wound up and fired a slap shot through the traffic. This one beat Braden Holtby cleanly to knot the game at 3-3. Ten seconds remained in regulation.
At the 1:34 mark of overtime, the Flyers completed the comeback in style. Ruslan Fedotenko, who sealed Saturday's 3-1 win over Boston with an empty-net goal, took a feed from Timonen on the tape and scored from the left slot. Sean Couturier earned the secondary assist.
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The dramatic final 16-plus minutes of play made a distant memory of what had been a pretty tightly played two-plus periods of play. With the Flyers' blueline still severely depleted, the squad showed an improved commitment to team defense for the second straight game.
Apart from Fedotenko, Matt Read also scored for the second straight game. At 14:44 of the first period, Read took a long stretch pass over the middle from Giroux and sped off on a breakaway.
Doing his best impression of a piece of Swiss cheese, Holtby left Read with plenty of shooting room over his glove and also a gap between the pads. Read found the five hole to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.
Earlier in the first period, Max Talbot knotted the game at 1-1 after a Nicklas Bäckström deflection opened the scoring for Washington. In what would prove to be Talbot's final game and goal of the 2013 season, Zac Rinaldo (7 hits in 8:08 of ice time) made a short feed to an open Talbot near the net. Timonen drew the secondary assist.
Washington got the goal back late in the second period, as Mike Green scored a breakaway goal moments after stepping out of the penalty box.
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At the tail end of the second period, Talbot suffered a gruesome injury on an attempted check on Green. The Washington defenseman sidestepped the Flyers checking forward and made accidental knee-to-knee contact.
Talbot's left leg buckled. He had to be helped off the ice and then physically carried to the locker room.
This morning, the Flyers confirmed that Talbot's injury was indeed a serious one. X-rays revealed a break in his left leg. He is, of course, out for the rest of the season and faces a lengthy rehabilitation.
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