Photo: @Capitals/Twitter
The Washington Capitals fell to the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 3-1 at Capital One Arena on Saturday. The loss dropped the Capitals’ record to 23-16-6 and 52 points on the season. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 22 saves in the loss.
Lines & Pairs
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Connor Sheary
Sonny Milano — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson
Anthony Mantha — Nic Dowd — T.J. Oshie
Marcus Johansson — Lars Eller — Garnet Hathaway
Erik Gustafsson — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin — Martin Fehervary
Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Scratches: Center Dylan Strome, right-wing Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and defenseman Alex Alexeyev
Injuries: Left-wing Carl Hagelin (hip), right-wing Connor Brown (ACL), and defenseman John Carlson (upper-body)
First Period
Flyers center Scott Laughton opened the scoring at the 13:36 mark on a man advantage, giving the visiting team a 1-0 lead.
Sarge leading the way. 🫡#PHIvsWSH | @Laughts21 pic.twitter.com/Ln68cfp9zS
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 15, 2023
Ovechkin (30) would tie the game up at 1-1 at the 17:56 mark, reaching the 30-goal mark for the 17th time in his 18-year career, tying Mike Gartner for the most 30-goal seasons in NHL history.
No. 3⃣0⃣ for the #Gr8 pic.twitter.com/RlXmYTsYdM
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 15, 2023
Quick Stats
SOG: 7-5 Capitals
Face-Off Win %: 61% (Capitals), 39% (Flyers)
Hits: 14-13 Capitals
Second Period
Flyers’ left-wing James van Riemsdyk would give Philadelphia a 2-1 lead just 4:51 into the middle frame.
Big brother van Riemsdyk lights the lamp in DC. #PHIvsWSH | @JVReemer21 pic.twitter.com/MPvxjGpH7m
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 15, 2023
Right-wing Wade Allison extended the Flyers’ lead, 3-1, at the 5:40 mark.
Create chaos, @wadeallison11. #PHIvsWSH | #FueledByPhilly pic.twitter.com/guLXrCNL1R
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 15, 2023
Quick Stats
Total SOG: 21-15 Capitals
Face-Off Win %: 57% (Capitals), 43% (Flyers)
Total Hits: 28-22 Capitals
Third Period
The final frame would be scoreless.
Quick Stats
Total SOG: 36-24 Capitals
Face-Off Win %: 57% (Capitals), 43% (Flyers)
Total Hits: 32-31 Capitals
Notes Through the Game
- Among players to begin a season at age 37 or older, Ovechkin required the fewest games in NHL history to reach 30 goals in a single campaign. Jean Beliveau (54 GP) required the second-fewest games to reach 30 goals in a single season (1968-69).
- Ovechkin’s first-period goal marks his 400th career goal scored at home. He joins Wayne Gretzky (492), Gordie Howe (449), Jaromir Jagr (411), and Mike Gartner (401) as the only players in NHL history to score 400 home goals.
The Capitals clash next with the New York Islanders for the first time this season at USB Arena on Tuesday. NBC Sports Washington will have the coverage beginning at 7:30 PM ET.
By Della Young
Well, what next? Cant wait for tomorrow.
You can’t prove that Laviolette was out coached in the last two games, but I think you can say Torts knows how to stop the Caps. He gave the blueprint to the league a season or two ago as well.
Laviolette out coaches himself
I wonder if Lav could coach his way of or a brown paper bag with 4 of the sides open. He makes changes for the sake of making a change and I honestly think he has not only no idea if they will work nor does he care because he is our of here on April 14, and that will be one of the best moves, although later, that this GM has made! Yes this team is currently in 4th place however they have a ton of games against the Metro teams and that will say a lot about the coaching of Lav.
I was at the game. Capitals skated around and around and when they tried something, the Flyers were right there waiting. A couple of real outstanding saves by Hart – but the Caps were totally out coached IMO. Man, I hope the rest of the league wasn’t watching.
Totally agree. Torts has the number of this team; he may not always win but he knows how to whip them.
Shuffle the lines.
Not sure what Torts record against the Caps is but he always seems delighted when his team beats the Caps. I do think that he was outcoached by Torts. He needs to go back 3 games and just go with that lineup all the time. Its nice to have Nicky and Tom back however it is obvious that the timing between those 2 and the rest of the team is off. Mantha, who at the present time cant hit the side of the barn with a shot tied for second on shot attempts with 4. Time to work out a trade for him and Eller and very quietly tell Lav to play Strom and stop tinkering with what was working or pack his bags and head home for the rest of the season. Sad to say but honestly see no reason to keep him. Lucky for the Caps that not all the teams in the League have the personal that Philly does and their HC does not have a deep seeded hatred for the Caps. I will say that Torts did outcoach Lav in 2 games. Ill give him the first game but last night was squarely on Lav as he knew what Philly was going to do an he didnt change a thing, except lines which he has shown that although he is good at changing them they often dont work.. Finally since Wilson and Backy have come back is it my imagination or has the PP gotten worse?
It seems to me that Wilson is still hurting. A lot of uncomfortable stretching, I noticed.
From the surgery he had it usually takes a full 9-12 months to recover at 12months to get back to where he was before the surgery. He pushed it just to play and is still not totally healed. Yes he can play however it will not be at his past level until next year. Whoever had the bright idea to rush him back just so he could play for a team that might not make the playoffs should be fired.
Agreed. He’s not helping right now.
What did people expect? I wanted them to do a Kuch and not come back until the playoffs. We all knew that they would not be 100% and might never be 100%. We knew that inserting them back into the roster during the regular season would mean moving productive players out and upsetting any chemistry that existed. But we all knew that Nicky and Tom were in charge of their own destinies. They would come back and play when they wanted to. No one would question them, no one would sit them. They were in charge. I think it is going to be the same with Carlson.