Photo: @Capitals
The Washington Capitals beat the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 5-2 for their eighth win in their last nine games and second over the Flyers in eight days on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center. The win put the Capitals two points ahead of the New York Islanders, though the Islanders currently have a game in hand on the Capitals. Goaltender Braden Holtby made 22 saves in the win.
Capitals Lines at Flyers
Forward Chandler Stephenson drew into the lineup in favor of center Nic Dowd after the Capitals’ 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night snapped their seven-game winning streak.
First Period
Forward Brett Connolly caught a pass from defenseman Michal Kempny at the backdoor and he beat goaltender Carter Hart blocker side 2:53 in.
Its @bconnolly8 on the doorstep to put the #Caps up 1-0! #CapsFlyers #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/5JuBNSHDYm
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 14, 2019
Center Lars Eller potted in the rebound off of his own shot into a wide-open net to make it 2-0 9:30 into the game.
POINT BLANK SLAM DUNK FOR @lellerofficial ! #Caps up 2-0 #CapsFlyers pic.twitter.com/wPxt9UBgCv
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 14, 2019
The Capitals led 11-5 in shots, 11-10 in hits, and 10-3 in blocked shots after one. They also won 78% of the draws in the first.
The Flyers didn’t score on the lone power-play of the period.
Each team was credited with one takeaway, 11 hits, and five giveaways in the opening 20 minutes.
Second Period
Just as a Capitals penalty expired, forward James Van Riemsdyk picked the corner from the right circle after getting a drop pass from defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere 1:03 into the period to make it 2-1.
Connolly went top-corner on Flyers goaltender Carter Hart after getting a Flyers’ turnover in the defensive zone. He sniped a wicked wrist shot over the glove of Hart for his second of the game and 19th of the season 8:43 into the period.
Conno again – this time with the S N I P E ! #Caps lead 3-1 #CapsFlyers pic.twitter.com/QdPYuRpKoO
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 15, 2019
Wilson banged home his 20th of the season pounding a shot from the slot into a wide-open net after getting a fake shot-pass from center Evgeny Kuznetsov from the right circle 9:48 into the second to extend the lead to 4-1.
Welcome to the 20-Goal club, @tom_wilso! #Caps lead 4-1 #CapsFlyers pic.twitter.com/azV7mSaIVM
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 15, 2019
Forward Scott Laughton cut the Capitals’ lead in half putting it past Holtby after forward Ryan Hartman’s initial shot was blocked by a Capitals’ defenseman at 12:22 elapsed time.
The Capitals led 25-14 in shots, including 14-11 in the second, 15-7 in blocked shots, and had nine giveaways while Philadelphia had 10 after two. They won 53% of the faceoffs in the opening 40 minutes.
The Flyers led 19-16 in hits and 7-5 in takeaways after two periods of play.
Each team was held scoreless on the power-play. The Capitals had two opportunities on the man advantage while the Flyers had two in the first two periods.
Third Period
Kuznetsov ripped one into the empty-net with 1:26 to go for his 18th of the season and only his second on the road.
Kuzy ENG to put a nice little bow on this one! #CapsFlyers #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/ziJxfk2CoA
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 15, 2019
The Capitals led 32-24 in shots, 21-10 in blocked shots, and had 10 giveaways while Philadelphia had 13.
The Flyers led 10-7 in third-period shots, 25-22 in hits, and 10-7 in takeaways. They won 53% of the faceoffs.
Each team was held scoreless on the power-play. The Capitals had three opportunities on the man advantage while the Flyers had four.
The Capitals visit the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night for the first time since advancing to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final last Spring. Action from Amalie Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington or NHL Network for those outside the DMV beginning at 7 PM ET.
By Harrison Brown
Caps now have 4 guys with 20 or more goals (Ovechkin, Oshie, Vrana, and now Wilson). They have 3 guys knocking on the door of 20 (Connolly with 19 and Backstrom and Kuzy with 18).
Excellent “get well” game after miserable give-away night in Pittsburgh!
Frankovic teaches us again: “This is a deep Capitals team. When they play hard and smart they are tough to handle. But they do have a tendency to get pulled into end to end riverboat hockey with the lead. They also have to eliminate some of the poor decisions coming out of their own end. There are still too many cross ice passes from inside their own blue line. With the Caps speed up front now, a high flip pass is a much better option and worst case it’s an icing instead of a giveaway and an odd man rush against. They’ve used this effectively with Hagelin lately and it works. Pittsburgh did this on Tuesday against the Caps on their tying goal from Sidney Crosby. Again, the worst case scenario is an icing ….”
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Here’s a great video on YouTube about Conno.
https://youtu.be/Gejc58ryyTE
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