WRAPUP: 4-3 OT WIN IN DC SENDS FLYERS INTO ALL-STAR BREAK
Snapping a three-game losing streak marked by third-period comebacks, backbreaking deciding goals late in regulation and penalty killing issues, the Philadelphia Flyers flipped the script on Wednesday night as they downed the NHL-leading Washington Capitals in overtime, 3-2, at the Verizon Center. This time, the Flyers never trailed and found ways to re-take the lead even when the Caps erased deficits of 2-0 in the second period and 3-2 in the third.
A pair of goals by Jakub Voracek, including the OT game-winner, keyed the victory for the Flyers in their final game before the NHL All-Star break. Philly also got first-period tallies from Brayden Schenn (power play) and Ryan White. Making his first career start against his former team, Michal Neuvirth authored some key saves among the 27 stops he made on 30 Washington shots.
The Flyers played a disciplined game for the most part. Philly only took two minor penalties that put them on the penalty kill -- there was also a justified embellishment call on Voracek in the first period that set up two minutes of 4-on-4 hockey -- and they killed off both of them against the NHL's number one power play. The latter successful kill came late in regulation with the score tied at 3-3.
Andre Burakovsky scored twice for the Capitals, sandwiching goals around a Nicklas Bäckström tally that temporarily tied the match at 2-2 in the second period. Braden Holtby stopped 28 of 32 Flyers shots in a losing cause.
Holtby lost his stick on Voracek's winning goal. Earlier, the All-Star goaltener took a pair of second period penalties that, while they did not result in Philadelphia goals, helped the Flyers spend the latter minutes of the frame on the attack after the Capitals had steamrolled them for most of the frame.
For Washington, however, Wednesday night's tilt had "trap game" written all over it for the club with the best record in the NHL.
For one thing, due to back-to-back snow-related game postponements, the Capitals had gone seven straight nights without a game and had only played once in the previous nine nights. Additionally, with the Caps running away with both the Metropolitan Division and the race for the top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, there was much more instant urgency in the opposing locker room to gain two points. The current Flyers team has its flaws but lack of resiliency and competitive drive are not among them.
The scenario played itself out in the first period, and the Flyers seized the opportunity by outskating and outworking the Capitals. Washington struggled to complete passes, clear their defensive zone or take care of the puck. The Flyers took advantage.
Philly made quick work of the game's first power play, needing just six seconds to make the Capitals pay for an undisciplined penalty. The serially reckless Tom Wilson took a needless up-ice interference penalty for hitting Sam Gagner when the puck was about 20 feet away.
Claude Giroux won the first faceoff cleanly back to Shayne Gostisbehere at the point. Studying his options momentarily, Gostisbehere made a nice pass to Wayne Simmonds down low in the offensive zone. With Matt Niskanen caught out of position, Simmonds passed to an open Schenn in the left slot. At the 4:54 mark, Schenn scored his 12th goal of the season as he chipped the Flyers' first shot of the game off the lunging stick of Caps' defenseman Karl Alzner and over Holtby. Simmonds and Gostisbehere earned the assists.
At the 11:11 mark, the Flyers made Washington pay for an egregious turnover. Capitals leading scorer Evgeny Kuznetsov attempted a high risk play behind his own net and the puck was easily picked off in the slot by the only player in the vicinity -- Flyers right winger Ryan White. From point-blank range, White hammered a shot over Holtby, who had almost no chance at making a save. The unassisted goal was White's fifth tally of the season.
The Flyers had a golden opportunity to extend the lead to 3-0, as forward R.J. Umberger was set up in perfect shooting position near the right post. Umberger did not release the quite fast enough or elevate it quite high enough, and Holtby made his best save of the game at the 15:00 mark of the first period. Earlier, on the shift right after White's goal, Umberger tipped a shot just wide of the from about 12 feet from the goal line.
Shots on goal in the first period were 12-6 in the Flyers' favor. Philly also took 1:47 of carryover power play time into the second period as Niskanen tripped Umberger.
The Capitals regrouped in the locker room and, after killing off the Niskanen penalty without allowing a shot on goal, utterly dominated the play for much of the period. In particular, the Flyers could not take the puck away from the dazzling Kuznetsov. Neuvirth protected the 2-0 lead with several difficult saves -- after hardly being tested in the first period -- but a Washington breakthrough felt inevitable.
It came at 7:39 of the period. Nate Schmidt found a wide passing lane to Burakovsky in the deep slot. The Swede wristed a nasty rising shot that beat Neuvirth over the glove to cut the Flyers' lead to 2-1.
While not an easy save by any means, it was a play where Neuvirth had a chance at a stop. He had an angle and seemed to have a clean look at the puck but Burakovsky's shot had vicious movement on it.
Less than a minute later, at the 8:34 mark, Nicklas Bäckström scored a somewhat similar goal he scored on Steve Mason back on Nov. 12: a right circle sniper's goal.
The previous one came off a Philly turnover. This one finished off a Washington rush. Bäckström got wide open to receive a pass, this time from T.J. Oshie, and fired on net from the right circle near the hash marks. The goal earlier this season was perfectly placed. On this one, Bäckström's shot hit off Neuvirth's shoulder pads on the glove side and then went into the net. Michael Del Zotto was guilty of some loose coverage on Oshie moments earlier and the Flyers' looked disorganized throughout the entire sequence.
Smelling the blood in the water, the Capitals stepped up their feeding frenzy in the offensive zone as they racked up an 11-0 shot edge with nearly constant puck control. The Flyers desperately needed something to stabilize the play for them, apart from over-relying on Neuvirth to bail them out.
Finally the Flyers generated some offensive zone time as play neared the 13:45 mark. Philly got its first three shots of the period on rapid succession -- two by Mark Streit and one by Matt Read. At 14:10, Read claimed the puck on the doorstep and was attempting to maneuver around a sprawled Holtby to deposit the puck in the net. The goalie stuck out his pad and tripped Read, potentially preventing a goal but putting the Flyers on the power play.
The Flyers did not score on the man advantage but did apply some pressure. At the 17:37 mark, the Caps iced the puck for a right circle faceoff in the Washington end. Giroux won the draw cleanly to Voracek at the right side hash marks and Voracek fired the puck immediately. Holtby never saw the shot through a maze of bodies and, therefore, couldn't track the low shot as it went into the net inside the right post. The goalie appeared startled and reacted way too late.
The goal at 17:39 restored the Flyers' lead to 3-2. Giroux got the lone assist on Voracek's seventh goal of the season. In his last 18 gamess, Voracek has compiled 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists).
On the next shift following the Voracek goal, Holtby stopped the puck behind the net and attempted to wring it off the plexiglass and out to safety. Instead, the puck sailed over the glass and into the stands. After a quick conference, the officials ruled that the puck did not tip off the glass and instead went over cleanly for an automatic delay of game penalty.
The Flyers did not score on the power play but they took a 3-2 lead to the locker room at the second intermission. After getting crushed possession wise for much the period, the Flyers outshot the Caps 6-0 over the final 6:15 of the period.
However, Washington threw another push at the Flyers early in the third period. Neuvirth froze a couple of pucks to try to slow the play down and give his club a chance to get its footing.
Instead, at the 3:55 mark, the Capitals knotted the game again at 3-3.
It started out innocently enough as the Flyers, with the fourth line and the defense pairing of Streit and Nick Schultz on the ice, sent the puck out of the defensive zone and the Caps regrouped at their own blueline. Washington chipped the puck in softly at the Philadelphia blueline and then pursued the puck.
Things suddenly turned dangerous as the puck eluded Laughton and the playmaking Kuznetsov gained possession as Streit went over to offer Laughton assistance. In the meantime, Burakovsky made a beeline through the left slot. A perfect setup pass and a quick finish later, Burakovsky had his second goal of the game. Neuvirth had no chance on this one.
To their credit, the Flyers once again showed their resiliency. They gave Washington some push back of their own as the period progressed. With 2:02 left in regulation, Read was whistled off for hooking Kuznetsov. Simply to ensure themselves of one point in the game, Philadelphia now needed a successful penalty kill against the NHL's most surgical power play.
Highlighted by two Schultz blocks on the deadly Alexander Ovechkin, a Neuvirth save on an Ovechkin blast and a Del Zotto block on Jason Chimera, the Flyers survived the kill. With one point in the bank, the Flyers went to work on getting a second in overtime.
The 3-on-3 OT did not take long -- just 38 seconds -- to resolve. Gostisbehere gained the offensive zone and passed to Voracek, who took care of the rest. Voracek stickhandled around the attack zone and went around behind the net as he was defended by Kuznetsov. As Voracek swung around in front of the net, the stickchecking Kuznetsov accidentally got tangled with Holtby and knocked the goaltender's stick away from his hands. Simultaneously, Voracek wristed a shot high over Holtby's left shoulder to win the game.
The goaltender complained he'd been interfered with by Voracek, and the play was very briefly reviewed in Toronto. The verdict came swiftly: good goal.
With the win, the Flyers go into the All-Star break with a 21-16-6 record. They are five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins (with one game in hand) for the lower wildcard seed in the Eastern Conference and six behind the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division. After the All-Star break, the Flyers will host the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 2 at the Wells Fargo Center. Giroux is the Flyers' lone representative at this year's All-Star Game in Nashville.
**************
In celebration of nearly a half-century of Flyers hockey, the Flyers Alumni Association is bringing together players representing every decade of franchise history for a special Orange vs. Black intrasquad Alumni game on Feb. 5, 2016 at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be held at the Santander Arena in Reading, PA, home of the Philadelphia Flyers' ECHL affiliate, the Reading Royals.
Confirmed playing participants include Hockey Hall of Famers
Bob Clarke and
Mark Howe, recent Flyers stars
Danny Briere and
Kimmo Timonen, Flyers Hall of Fame inducteee
Joe Watson, longtime fan favorite
Bob "the Hound" Kelly as well as the likes of
Paul Holmgren, mid-1980s captain
Dave Poulin and defenseman
Brad Marsh.
Full playing rosters will be announced next week.
The six coaches of the two sides will be Hockey Hall of Fame inductee
Bill Barber, Flyers Hall of Famers
Brian Propp,
Rick MacLeish and
Dave "the Hammer" Schultz as well as
Bill Clement and
Don "Big Bird" Saleski. Clement will also be answering questions fans submit on social media.
Tickets for the Alumni game start at $12. All premium packages are complete sell-outs. A post-game VIP meet-and-greet with all of the Alumni was an almost instant sell-out. A youth hockey skills clinic run by the Alumni and a pre-game dinner buffet have also sold out.
For more ticket information on the game itself,
click here.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»