Caps five points behind in division after defeat
Time is running short for the Capitals, and what was supposed to be a defining five-game homestand has not gone as hoped.
This time it was a 1-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at Verizon Center on Sunday night. Eric Wellwood tipped home the only goal of the game at 7:51 of the second period, and Washington’s desperate push for the equalizer ultimately fell short.
With first-place Florida’s victory on Sunday night, the Caps (32-28-5, 69 points) fell five points behind in the Southeast Division race. More problematic, they also remained in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with several teams closing in on them and No. 8 Winnipeg (31-27-8, 70 points) still one point ahead with one extra game played.
“We played a pretty solid hockey game tonight. I thought we put a lot of rubber on their goalie,” forward Matt Hendricks said. “I thought we had some good traffic. Unfortunately, we’re having some trouble finding the back of the net right now. There’s no silver lining to losing a hockey game at this time of year.”
The first period was relatively even with big hits, a fight between Caps forward Troy Brouwer and Flyers forward Scott Hartnell and quality saves from both goalies. Given their penchant for falling behind, it must have felt like a victory for the Caps to enter the second period scoreless. But it wouldn’t last. The Flyers punched home a goal when Pavel Kubina’s point shot was tipped past Michal Neuvirth by Wellwood.
Washington coach Dale Hunter didn’t seem especially pleased with star winger Alex Ovechkin’s effort on that goal. He had the initial turnover in the defensive zone and later failed to get out to Kubina quick enough to take away the shot from the point. Ovechkin took just one shift in the final 12:09 of the second period. He already had been limited to 4:07 of ice time in the first period and 8:12 total after two — third lowest on the team.
Hunter admitted Ovechkin had made a mistake on the goal but insisted his reduced ice time was related more to matching lines with Philadelphia’s dangerous No. 1 trio of Jaromir Jagr, Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell.
“Mistakes in a game — and especially in a game that’s tight like this — they’re all battling for points, and people make mistakes out there,” Hunter said. “It’s what you do after and after. In the third period, [Ovechkin] had his chances.”
Indeed, he played 8:37 in the third period and finished with five shots in that frame. So whether it was a benching, line matching or both, Ovechkin demonstrated renewed vigor. It just wasn’t enough in the end. Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov finished with a 34-save shutout.
“We’re still outside looking in with teams [that] are in on our heels,” Brouwer said. “We have to be proud of the way we played, but we still have to be disappointed because we didn’t come away with two points.”
