The Washington Capitals handed the Philadelphia Flyers their eighth consecutive loss after beating them by a score of 5-3 on Tuesday night in the first meeting of the season between the two teams. The win gave the Capitals (26-12-4) a two-point cushion over the Pittsburgh Penguins for the top spot in the Metro. Goaltender Pheonix Copley made 37 saves for his ninth win in his past 11 outings (9-1-1).
Capitals Lines vs. Flyers
#Caps lines vs. PHI:
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
13-Vrana, 20-Eller, 77-Oshie
65-Burakovsky, 72-Boyd, 10-Connolly
18-Stephenson, 26-Dowd, 25-Smith-Pelly6-Kempny, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 2-Niskanen
44-Orpik, 34-SiegenthalerCopley vs. McKenna. #CapsFlyers
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) January 9, 2019
Center Nicklas Backstrom missed tonight’s game due to an illness and center Lars Eller stepped in his place on the second line. Center Travis Boyd was bumped up to Eller’s spot while center Nic Dowd drew back into the lineup.
Goaltender Mike McKenna started for the Flyers, who tied an NHL record for the most goalies used in a season (seven).
First Period
On the Capitals’ first shot of the game, forward Tom Wilson tapped in forward Jakub Vrana’s pass in the crease after Vrana flew into the offensive zone with a burst of speed to feed him down low 4:21 into the game.
V chips it to himself – First shot of the game rom Whip hammers it home. #ALLCAPS #CapsFlyers pic.twitter.com/zOqifjiINB
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 9, 2019
After defenseman Michal Kempny turned the puck over to Flyers forward Oskar Lindblom in the defensive zone, Lindblom fed forward Jakub Voracek on a two-on-one rush and Voracek one-timed it past Copley to tie the game with 9:28 left in the first.
The Capitals led 8-0 in blocked shots after one.
The Flyers led 11-4 in shots, 10-6 in hits, 4-1 in takeaways and had only two giveaways while the Capitals had four in the opening frame. Philadelphia went 0-for-1 on the power-play and won 65% of the faceoffs in the first.
Second Period
Forward T.J. Oshie tipped in Eller’s shot in front of McKenna for the 199th goal of his career and his first in nine games. The goal went right by McKenna’s blocker 9:19 into the period.
Perfect tip @TJOshie77 pic.twitter.com/VMxUMrB6xr
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 9, 2019
Vrana picked off a pass from Flyers center Sean Couturier and zipped in on a breakaway. He put it past the glove of McKenna with 8:38 left to give the Capitals a 3-1 lead with his 13th of the season.
💨💨💨@JVranaa pic.twitter.com/8CkYJjpoA1
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 9, 2019
Vrana banked the puck in off of the left pad of McKenna for his second of the game on the power-play after getting a feed from center Travis Boyd on the power-play. The goal was only the Capitals’ second on their last 34 opportunities (6% efficiency) on the man advantage.
V from the impossible angle. #ALLCAPS #CapsFlyers pic.twitter.com/JJmYZGzekW
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 9, 2019
The Capitals led 13-12 in second-period shots and 11-7 in blocked shots after 40 minutes of action.
The Flyers led 23-17 in shots, 19-9 in hits, and had six giveaways while the Capitals had seven. Philadelphia won 73% of the draws in the first two periods.
Each team was credited with six takeaways and had two power-plays through two, although the Capitals took advantage of one of their power-plays, unlike the Flyers.
Third Period
After defenseman Radko Gudas threw a hard shoulder hit on Capitals center Nic Dowd, forward Devante Smith-Pelly challenged Gudas to a wrestling match but got taken down 2:04 into the third.
DSP did NOT take kindly to that Gudas hit on Dowd. 🥊 #CapsFlyers pic.twitter.com/KtG0EDSWVH
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) January 9, 2019
Forward Wayne Simmonds cut the Capitals’ lead in half tapping in his own rebound in the crease after getting a feed from Voracek with 3:27 to go.
Wilson tapped in the empty netter in the crease with 2:01 to go but was offsides after the Flyers challenged the ruling on the ice. He was able to draw a penalty on Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere for hooking on the play.
Forward Claude Giroux buried a cross-ice feed from the right dot after getting a cross-rink pass from Voracek to cut the lead to 4-3.
Oshie added an empty-netter from center ice with 2.1 to go off of the faceoff after the Flyers scored for his second goal of the game and the 200th of his career.
OSHIENG = FUN TIMES #ALLCAPS #CapsFlyers pic.twitter.com/tnvpS1ONY9
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 9, 2019
The Capitals led 19-13 in blocked shots and 14-11 in takeaways. They went 1-for-4 on the power-play.
The Flyers led 40-26 in shots, including 17-9 in the final frame, 23-15 in hits, and had eight giveaways while the Capitals had 14. Philadelphia won 70% of the draws. They went 0-for-5 on the power-play.
The Capitals next take on the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Thursday night. Action from Beantown is slated for 7 PM and can be seen on NBC Sports Washington.
By Harrison Brown