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Wrapup: Flyers Drop 3-1 Decision to Caps |
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Wrap: Flyers Drop 3-1 Decision to Capitals
The Flyers dropped to 1-2-0 on the preseason as they lost, 3-1, to the Washington Capitals at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday evening. Dylan Strome notched power play and even-strength goals for Washington, while Connor Brown had a goal and an assist. Kevin Hayes scored the lone Flyers goal.
The Flyers played a decent first period, which went to intermission scoreless but saw Philadelphia get the better of the play. The second period, however, was atrocious and ultimately decided the game. Washington forged ahead, 2-0, and lead the rest of the way.
A sloppy play in the defensive zone turned a harmless situation into a Washington goal in a flash. Ivan Provorov was unable to come up with a puck and, moments later, Brown scored for a 1-0 Washington lead at 4:23 of the second period. At 7:42, the Caps made it 2-0. Egor Zamula was in the penalty box on a hooking penalty. After a reload by the Caps, Strome received a pass at the top of the right circle and drilled a shot over Felix Sandström's glove to make it 2-0.
The Flyers got back within 2-1 at 3:44 of the third period. Tyson Foerster played on the top line with Kevin Hayes and Owen Tippett for the first two periods but was moved down in the third in favor of Wade Allison. The switch paid a dividend. Allison's aggressive forecheck forced a turnover on the side boards and Tippett claimed the puck for a mini 2-on-1 with Hayes. From the left wing, Tippett made a nice cross-ice feed to Hayes, who made no mistake.
Washington restored a two-goal lead at 16:20. Rasmus Ristolainen was on his backhand about five feet inside the blueline. He found himself trapped with two defenders closing on him and nowhere to go with the puck. He tried to force a pass. In the neutral zone, Scott Laughton and Travis Sanheim initially seemed in range to defend if the puck was lost. The puck eluded Laughton, Sanheim was slow to react and, suddenly, the Capitals had a 2-on-0 breakaway.
Washington worked a give-and-go (Strome-to-Brown-to-Strome) and Samuel Ersson had little prayer of stopping Strome from stashing the puck home for an insurance goal. The Flyers pulled Ersson for an extra attacker, but never threated to draw any closer.
Capitals starter Charlie Lindgren stopped all 13 shots he faced. Zach Fucale yielded only the 2-on-1 goal to Hayes on eight shots. Sandström stopped 13 of 15 shots, while Ersson denied 11 of 12.
There were few standouts for the Flyers in this game. Most the vets, including Hayes (goal aside) and the debuting pairing of Ivan Provorov and Tony DeAngelo, generated little. Various players, incuding Foerster, seemed heavy-legged over the course of the game. Much of Washington's game-day roster consisted of NHL role players and Hershey Bears but they outplayed their Flyers counterparts in the second and portions of the third period.
Allison was one of the better Flyers in this game, apart from Ersson once again looking sharp in one period of action (as he did on Tuesday in Buffalo). Allison had two prime scoring chances, several hits, and started the lone Philadelphia goal sequence.
Second periods were an habitual problem for the Flyers last season and cropped up as an issue in this game. Flyers assistant coach Brad Shaw, who served as the acting head coach for this game, said afterwards that good NHL teams typically are good second period clubs. Why? Because it's a challenging puck-management period with the long line change.
The Flyers have an off-day on Thursday. They will practice on Friday and then visit the Boston Bruins for a 1 p.m. matinee on Saturday.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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