The Philadelphia Flyers (25-21-11) could not find an answer for Logan Thompson as they fell 3-1 to the Washington Capitals (30-23-7) on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Rasmus Sandin, Trevor van Riemsdyk, and Aliaksei Protas scored for the Capitals. Noah Cates scored for the Flyers.
It was not the most action-packed Wednesday night, to say the very least. Over half of the game went by without a score. Washington took the lead just over halfway through the second period, before Philly tied it up in the third. The Capitals regained the lead late in th the third, and held on.
Here is how we got to the final score.
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Caps score the lone goal of the first 40
Within the first two minutes, the Flyers looked like a team with some jump. Travis Konecny entered the zone with a burst of speed, which led to a Nick Seeler shot from the high slot. Denver Barkey was netfront and redirected the puck, but Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson made a great glove save to keep the game scoreless.
Nonetheless, it was a great start for the Flyers.
Within the first 10 minutes, Philadelphia was outshooting Washington 7-1, and got a power play after an Alex Ovechkin hooking penalty to start the second half of the first. However, the Flyers were unable to get a shot on goal during the two minutes.
The Flyers did little after the power play, and Washington began to build more momentum. After 20 minutes, the Flyers led shots 9-7, but the game was still scoreless.
Both goalies were standing tall as another 10 minutes of scoreless hockey started the second period.
That trend continued on, but after just under 34 minutes, the ice was finally broken. After a great Flyers effort to get back and neutralize a rush, Rasmus Sandin (3) snuck behind the Flyers’ defense, and gave the Capitals the 1-0 lead with the back-door goal.
The Sandin goal was the only action after 40 minutes of hockey.
Flyers tie it early in the third, but can’t hold on
29 seconds. That’s all it took into the third period for the Flyers to even the score at one. With two bodies near the blue paint, Travis Sanheim (19) fired a shot on goal that was redirected by Noah Cates (11), who tied the game at 1. Bobby Brink (12) had the secondary assist on the goal.
The Capitals had their first power play opportunity of the game following a Cam York holding penalty on Pierre-Luc Dubois.
Dan Vladar made a huge glove save on a Jakob Cychrun shot from the slot with 14:35 to play in regulation, keeping the power play scoreless, and the game tied at 1.
The Flyers killed off the penalty and had a number of high-danger chances, including one from Matvei Michkov that was stunned by a phenomenal save by Thompson.
Washington struck next, with Trevor van Riemsdyk (2) giving the Capitals the 2-1lead with 5:52 to go in the game.
So, the Flyers faced an uphill battle to come back in this one. They put forward a good effort with the extra attacker, but it came to no avail. A Nic Dowd delay of game penalty gave Philly the 6v4 advantage for 48.4 seconds, but they could not score.
Aliaksei Protas (20) scored the empty net dagger for the Capitals,
Washington held on to the 3-1 lead, and the Flyers lost their first game out of the Olympic break.
What’s next for the Flyers
Wednesday’s game was the first of a back-to-back to kick off this final stretch. The Flyers will head to New York City on Thursday to take on the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, with puck drop at 8:00 p.m. EST.
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