The Washington Capitals downed the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The victory gives the Capitals a record of 40-31-11 (91 points) for the 2023-24 regular season and a berth in the 2024 postseason.
The Capitals opened the scoring on a deflected shot by captain Alex Ovechkin late in the first frame for the game’s first lead and a 1-o advantage at the first intermission.
The Flyers tied the game just past the midway point of the middle frame on Erik Johnson’s fifth goal of the season for a 1-1 tie at the second intermission.
T.J. Oshie scored an empty net goal late to give the Capitals the 2-1 victory. Charlie Lindgren stopped 27 of 28 shots faced (.964) in the victory. In the final two games of the regular season, Lindgren posted a record of 2-0-0 with a 0.50 goals-against average and a .977 save percentage.
The Capitals will face former head coach Peter Laviolette and the New York Rangers in the first round, which begins this weekend.
LINEUP
Charlie Lindgren (24-16-7, 2.71 GAA, .910 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Capitals. Samuel Ersson (23-18-7, 2.86 GAA, .890 sv%) got the start in goal for the Flyers. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Connor McMichael — T.J. Oshie
Aliaksei Protas – Dylan Strome – Tom Wilson
Max Pacioretty — Hendrix Lapierre — Sonny Milano
Beck Malenstyn — Nic Dowd — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Alexander Alexeyev — Dylan McIlrath
Trevor Van Riemsdyk – Vincent Iorio
Charlie Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: RW Ivan Miroshnichenko, C Mike Sgarbossa, D Lucas Johansen
Out: D Ethan Bear (NHLPA players assistance program), C Nicklas Backstrom (hip), D Rasmus Sandin (upper-body), D Nick Jensen (upper-body)
With Jensen out, McIlrath drew into the lineup. Johansen was recalled from the AHL’s Hershey Bears on Sunday. Van Riemsdyk appeared in his 600th career NHL game.
1ST PERIOD
The Capitals opened the scoring late in the first frame on a deflected shot by Alex Ovechkin (31) at 18:08 off the opening stanza. Dylan McIlrath (1) and T.J. Oshie (13) had the helpers.
Take ’em however you can get ’em, O pic.twitter.com/Kj2ylUhQb8
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 16, 2024
And that was all of the scoring in the first frame. The Flyers led in five-on-five shot attempts, 17-14, but the Capitals led in scoring chances, 7-4, high-danger chances, 5-1 and expected goals for .68 to .13.
2ND PERIOD
The Flyers tied the game just past the midway point of the middle frame on Erik Johnson’s fifth goal of the season.
NEEDED IT. #WSHvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/6Q4xe9pq30
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 17, 2024
And that was it for the second period. The Flyers gained a possession edge in the second half of the period, leading in five-on-five shot attempts, 25-18, scoring chances, 11-9 and high-danger chances 5-1 for the frame.
3RD PERIOD
The Flyers pulled their goalie late, needing a win in regulation for playoff considerations, and that would be the difference as TJ Oshie would burry an empty netter to give the Capitals a late 2-1 lead.
TAKE ‘EM HOWEVER YOU CAN GET ‘EM, OSH pic.twitter.com/LH59od0PnM
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 17, 2024
The Capitals would hold on for the 2-1 victory.
Note: Detroit scored with 3 seconds left in regulation to stay alive….until Philly pulled its goalie in a 1-1 tie, needing a regulation win. The Caps scored, eliminating the Flyers, Wings, and Penguins.
SHAVINGS (Capitals PR)
- Alex Ovechkin scored his 31st goal of the season to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Ovechkin, who scored eight goals in his first 43 games (0.19 G/GP) of the season, has scored 23 goals in his last 36 games (0.64 G/GP).
- Ovechkin, 38, ranks fifth in the NHL in goals (23) since Jan. 27, trailing only Auston Matthews (30), Kirill Kaprizov (27), Filip Forsberg (25) and Zach Hyman (25). Matthews and Kaprizov are 26-years-old, while Forsberg is 29 and Hyman is 31.
- Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leader in road goals (434), has scored 16 of his 31 goals this season on the road.
- Dylan McIlrath recorded the primary assist on Ovechkin’s game-opening goal. It marks McIlrath’s first NHL point since he tallied an assist on March 1, 2023 at Anaheim.
- With Dylan McIlrath’s first period assist, players from Hershey’s 2023 championship team have now combined for 114 (42g, 72a) of Washington’s 584 total points (215g, 369a) this season (19.5%).
- T.J. Oshie earned the secondary assist on Ovechkin’s first period goal, his 13th assist of the season. Oshie has tallied two assists in two games against Philadelphia this season.
- The Capitals blocked 32 shots in their 2-1 win over Philadelphia. That’s tied for the most shots Washington has blocked in a single game this season (11/11/23 at NYI: 32).
- Charlie Lindgren’s 12 wins since March 7 are the most in the NHL in that span.
- The Capitals went 4-1-0 to close out the regular season, outscoring the opposition 12-8 over their last five games.
- The Capitals make the playoffs for the 15th time in the last 17 seasons and 33rd time in franchise history.
- Nic Dowd, playing in his 500th career game, recorded the primary assist on the Capitals second goal. With the assist, Dowd extends his point streak to three games (2g-1a-3p).
- In his first season as head coach, Spencer Carbery led the Capitals to a playoff berth with a record of 40-31-11 (91 points). That’s an 11-point improvement from last season (35-37-10, 80 points).
By Jon Sorensen