Photo: @Capitals
The Washington Capitals beat the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 3-1 at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night and are 1-0-1 this preseason. Goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 13 saves in the first 40 minutes of the game while Zach Fucale turned in seven on eight faced in the last 20.
Capitals’ Lines at Flyers
Joe Snively — Dylan Strome — Connor Brown
Marcus Johansson — Aliaksei Protas — Michael Vecchione
Ludwig Persson — Henrik Borgstrom — Garnet Hathaway
Kale Kessy — Henrik Rybinski — Axel Jonsson-Fjallby
Lucas Johansen — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Gabriel Carlsson — Dylan McIlrath
Bobby Nardella — Matt Irwin
Lindgren
Fucale
Scratches: LW Beck Malenstyn, D Benton Maass
First Period
Scoring
None
Shots: 7-5 PHI
Notes: There were 25 hits and the Flyers won 63% of the draws in the period.
Second Period
Scoring
1-0 Capitals, 4:23: Brown picked up a bouncing puck in the offensive zone and whipped one past the stick of goaltender Felix Sandstrom.
Not bad for your first (preseason) game in a Caps uni, Brownie! pic.twitter.com/SYoGUJGSHt
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 29, 2022
2-0 Capitals, 7:42 (PPG): Strome hammered a one-timer from the right circle high glove on Sandstrom after Nardella laid a feed for him from the top.
We like these new guys pic.twitter.com/vxKTVwipa1
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 29, 2022
Shots: 15-13 WSH (10-6 in second)
Notes: The Flyers led 30-18 in hits and 10-8 in blocked shots.
Third Period
Scoring
2-1 Capitals, 3:44: Center Kevin Hayes finishes a pass from right-wing Owen Tippett on a two-on-one after left-wing Wade Allison forced Irwin to turn the puck over with a hit.
3-1 Capitals, 16:20: Strome completed a two-on-0 rush with Brown to restore the team’s two-goal advantage.
That Erie Otters connection is STRONG pic.twitter.com/kWteMzy8fC
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 29, 2022
Shots: 27-21 Capitals (12-8 in third)
Next game: Friday at Detroit Red Wings (7:30 PM, not televised, Caps Radio 24/7)
By Harrison Brown
who looked good?
Strome and brown looked good and showed chemistry, nardella did well moving the puck, and some solid forechecking for protas. Lindgren didn’t look to shabby either.
Strome with two. But aside from that looked great. Brown scored and was all over the ice. Johanson looked good to me. Snively was once again awesome. So was Protas. Going to be hard to send him back down. Lundstrom looked good in goal particularly in one sequence I think in first. Prospect wise both Borgstrom and Carlsson looked good. AJF didn’t distingquish.
I thought Nardella was best prospect. Strome and Brown are gonna be fun to watch this season.
Liked Strome and Brown and Lindgren looked very capable in net. But it also seemed to me that our PP was a lot faster. Passing could have been better, but players weren’t holding on to the puck like they did last year. Now, is that a new strategy or just the result of those particular players on the special teams?
I agree…. PP in first two games has looked much more lively. I love Strome down low on post. Funny thing is both PP goals in preseason have been by left shots from the circle. Meaning we can run the OV PP on the other side with success. But what i have seen is a much better umbrella system on the PP. Will be interesting to see if that gets used in regular season with traditional PP unit.
Strome and Brown played great. They’re gonna fit right in.
Lindgren and Fucale look good.
Snively, Protas and Hathaway are ready to roll.
Nardella looked like a top 4 NHL DMan last night. It was just an exhibition game. Can he play like that for 82 games + the playoffs?
Just curious Lane, does Nardella’s 5′-9″ size deter you? There have been NHL defensemen of that size in the past. Interested in other takes.
I know you asked Lane specifically. But I’m not concerned with size. I thought Nardella was pretty darn physical on boards. I do like some size in front of the net, but Lavi’s system puts more emphasis on agility and puck moving versus bruising Dmen. With better goaltending, I hope this plays to our smaller puck moving defensemen.
Jon, I just read your June analysis of Nardella and I felt it was lukewarm. You showed your concern about his height but beyond that I just never felt any enthusiasm from you — your month to month were ‘SAME’s.
He had played in Sweden and needed to adjust to NA hockey, and did have early season injuries. But after that, he still didn’t rank an UP from you.
Do you think he is now overcoming his ‘SAMEness?’
Not that it really matters because the Ted and Mac have shown they are willing to pay, but Nardella is on a one-way contract this year. So is Pilon. So we’ll have an expensive lineup in Hersey.
Hi Jon, I didn’t notice Nardella’s size last night. Maybe the Flyers had a smaller lineup? Nardella looked like a solid NHL Dman to me. Maybe he put on some weight this summer. Just one game but I didn’t get the impression that Nardella was going to get run over out there.
I definitely want size and toughness on D but not every player is gonna be a 6’5” brawler. If Nardella can skate and move the puck the way he did last night then he’ll be a player.
How is his game in the defensive zone usually? Does he compete hard and prevent chances? That’s probably what he’ll need to prove in the NHL.