Photo: Mark Blinch/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals fell to the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 3-1 in each team’s second round-robin tournament game to determine Stanley Cup Playoff seeding at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Thursday afternoon. The Capitals are now third in the Eastern Conference with a 0-1-1 record in the tournament while the Flyers are second with a 2-0-0 record. Goaltender Braden Holtby made 18 saves in the loss. The Capitals can no longer finish higher than third in the Eastern Conference.

Capitals’ Lines at Flyers

Photo: @Capitals

Defenseman John Carlson missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury suffered in the Capitals’ exhibition game last week. Center Travis Boyd replaced center Lars Eller, who left the Eastern Conference bubble to attend the birth of his second child.

First Period

Flyers forward Scott Laughton buried the first goal of the game into a wide-open net after forward Travis Konecny fed him all alone in front of the cage from the side of the goal to make it 1-0 Philadelphia 13:03 into the first.

The Capitals led 17-7 in hits after one.

The Flyers led 9-5 in shots, 3-2 in blocked shots, had five giveaways while the Capitals had six, and won 63% of the draws in the first period.

Each team went zero-for-two on the power play and had two takeaways in the first.

Second Period

Defenseman Travis Sanheim sneaked behind the Capitals’ defense and beat Holtby to the high blocker after deking back and forth and getting a feed from center Kevin Hayes along the right half-wall to make it 2-0 at 11:30.

The Capitals led 7-5 in second-period shots, 30-14 in hits, 8-5 in blocked shots, 6-3 in takeaways, and went zero-for-two on the power-play through 40 minutes.

Talk about the splits! pic.twitter.com/DovcOjrWqp

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) August 6, 2020

The Flyers had ten giveaways while the Capitals had 11, went zero-for-six on the power-play, won 66% of the draws, and gave away the puck ten times while the Capitals did so 11 in the first two periods.

Each team launched 13 shots on goal through two.

Third Period

Laughton buried one blocker-side after sneaking behind the Capitals’ defense and getting a no-look cross-ice feed from center Kevin Hayes for his second of the game to make it 3-0 8:37 into the third.

Center Travis Boyd cut the Flyers’ lead to 3-1, deflecting forward Carl Hagelin’s shot from the half-wall in the slot past goaltender Brian Elliott 12 seconds later.

First career playoff goal for @Tboyd93! pic.twitter.com/ezcpLRQeIF

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) August 6, 2020

The Capitals led 41-21 in hits, 10-8 in blocked shots, had 15 giveaways while the Flyers had 17, and went zero-for-four on the power-play.

The Flyers led 21-17 in shots, including 8-4 in the third, 10-7 in takeaways, went zero-for-six on the power-play, and won 67% of the draws.

The Capitals finish off their round-robin tournament against the Boston Bruins, who currently sit fourth in the Eastern Conference with an 0-2-0 record in the round-robin, on Sunday to determine who gets the third seed in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers take on the Tampa Bay Lightning (2-0-0) to determine who earns the top seed on Saturday. Time and television programming for either game have yet to be determined.

By Harrison Brown