On a busy Tuesday night in the playoff race, the Flyers fell to the Capitals, 6-4, at Capital One Arena.<\/p>\n
It turned out to be a missed opportunity (more on that below).<\/p>\n
Travis Sanheim, Carl Grundstrom, Christian Dvorak and Denver Barkey provided the Flyers’ goals.<\/p>\n
Porter Martone had a team-high five shots in his NHL debut.<\/p>\n
The Flyers tied the game in the second period and cut Washington’s lead to one twice during the third period, but they never led.<\/p>\n
For a fifth time this season, the Flyers (37-25-12) failed to win four games in a row. They haven’t won more than three straight in over two years. The last time they did it was Feb. 6-12 of the 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n
The Flyers split their four-game regular-season series with the Capitals (38-28-9).<\/p>\n
\u2022 With a win, Rick Tocchet’s club would have taken over the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot.<\/p>\n
Twenty-two minutes after the Flyers lost, the Blue Jackets fell to the Hurricanes, 5-2. If the Flyers had won, they would have pulled even with Columbus and had the tiebreaker of fewer games played.<\/p>\n
But the Flyers also didn’t lose any ground. The Islanders, Senators and Red Wings all lost in regulation, as well.<\/p>\n
With eight games left, the Flyers are two points out of the second wild-card spot and three back of third place in the Metropolitan Division.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Martone played his first NHL game a little over nine months after going sixth overall in the 2025 draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 19-year-old signed his entry-level deal<\/a> Sunday afternoon, skated Monday morning with a small group<\/a> and then suited up Tuesday night against the game’s all-time greatest goal scorer.<\/p>\n The big winger did a lot of good things in 16:54 minutes. He had an early penalty when he put the puck over the boards, but he then settled in and was active the rest of the way.<\/p>\n With 25 seconds left in the second period, Martone had a nice look battling around the net. He also took a stick to his mouth in that sequence but was fine for the third period. Four of his shots came in the final stanza.<\/p>\n Martone was not scared to shoot, he used his size well and he looked positionally sound.<\/p>\n