Wrap: Flyers Overcome Capitals, 3-1
The Philadelphia Flyers gritted out a 3-1 win over the Washington Capitals, receiving excellent goaltending and displaying character and persistence throughout the lineup. Carter Hart made 39 saves including 19 in the third period. He got 25 blocked shots in front of him. A two-goal outburst by the Flyers in a 40-second span in the second period -- after the Capitals made a heavy early push -- turned the game from a 1-1 deadlock to a 3-1 Philadelphia lead. The Capitals never made a dent in the deficit.
On a night where Travis Konecny's 10-game, 20-point scoring streak came to an end, the Flyers had other players step up offensively. It was the 11th game of the team's last 12 that the Flyers have generated at least three goals.
Laughton (PPG, 11th goal of the season) deflected home a Tony DeAngelo point shot to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 13:16 of the first period. A Morgan Frost giveaway in the defensive slot directly turned into an Alex Ovechkin goal (30th) at 13:16.
Washington controlled the early minutes of the second period but Philly pushed back for closely spaced goals by James van Riemsdyk (7th) at 4:51 and Wade Allison (6th) at 5:40. The Capitals entered the game with the NHL's best second period goal differential. On Wednesday in Philadelphia, the Flyers dominated a scoreless second period. Three nights later, the Flyers generated the only two goals of a middle stanza where both teams had numerous dangerous chances.
Frost earned a measure of redemption by contributing to the JVR goal sequence with an initial strong play in the neutral zone. In the offensive zone, Frost pounced on a Washington turnover on the boards and then combined with Owen Tippett to start a tic-tac-toe goal sequence finished off by van Riemsdyk. Subsequently, he played well the rest of the game.
Meanwhile, Hart played a brilliant game, especially when he was under siege early in the second period and throughout much of the third period. For long stretches, the Flyers kept the play to the outside but, when dangerous chances developed, Hart was there for the saves. Darcy Kuemper played well again (as he did on Wednesday) but not as well as his Flyers counterpart. Kuemper made 22 saves on 25 shots.
The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. The Capitals were 0-for-3.
For an in-depth period-by-period synopsis of Saturday's game, including analysis, highlights and statistics, see the
Postgame 5 on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
By sweeping the home-and-home set, the Flyers ended up posting a 2-1-1 record against the Capitals in the four-game season series. All four games were hotly contested right to the conclusion.
The Flyers (18-18-7) will have an off day on Sunday. A very tough game looms on the other side: a 1:00 p.m. road matinee against Jim Montgomery's Boston Bruins (33-5-4 overall, 20-1-3 at home).
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Phantoms Fall to Syracuse, 5-2
The 2022-23 season to date has been a streaky and overall inconsistent season. After compiling five of six possible points from their three previous games, the Phantoms returned home this weekend and earned just one of four possible points.
On Friday, the Phantoms dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to a Bridgeport Islanders team that was winless in its previous 11 games (including a couple of losses to Lehigh Valley). On Saturday, the Phantoms hosted a Syracuse Crunch club that entered with a 5-8-2 record on the road. Syracuse prevailed, 5-2.
Syracuse took a 3-1 lead to the second period and played from ahead the rest of the way, leading 4-2 after two periods and generating an empty-net goal in the third period.
Lehigh Valley got a mid-first-period goal by Kevin Connauton (1st) and a mid-second period tally by Elliot Desnoyers (13th). The Phantoms had a five-minute power play opportunity on a Daniel Walcott elbowing major with 5:41 left in the third period but were unable to draw any closer with Felix Sandström pulled for a 6-on-4 attack.
Sandström, who has started five straight games dating back to last weekend during his two-week conditioning loan from the Flyers, stopped 20 of 24 shots in taking the loss. His countryman, Syracuse netminder Hugo Alnefelt, denied 25 of 27 Phantoms shots and made several clutch stops among the nine he made in the third period.
Bobby Brink, in his fourth game for the Phantoms since recovering from off-season hip surgery, unsurprisingly scuffled in the latter game of his first back-to-back set of the season. AHL All-Star Game selection Tyson Foerster, who notched a pair of goals on Friday, was held off the scoresheet in this game and generated one shot on goal.
The Phantoms (16-14-5) will have a short respite and then play back-to-back road games against the Cleveland Monsters (14-16-4 overall and 2-7-1 in their last 10) on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Saturday's Phantoms lineup:
28 Olle Lycksell - 51 Artem Anisimov - 71 Tyson Foerster
17 Garrett Wilson - 91 Elliot Desnoyers - 23 Bobby Brink
20 Max Willman - 9 Cal O'Reilly - 25 Cooper Marody
24 Adam Brooks - 18 Jackson Cates - 15 Jordy Bellerive
6 Linus Högberg - 47 Louie Belpedio
44 Kevin Connauton - 12 Ronnie Attard
37 Adam Ginning - 3 Adam Karashik
32 Felix Sandström
[73 Nolan Maier]
Scratches: 4 Egor Zamula (illness), 13 Ryan Fitzgerald (healthy), 19 Isaac Ratcliffe (healthy),
29 Wyatte Wylie (upper-body injury in Friday's game), 42 Hayden Hodgson (healthy).
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