Caps 5, Flyers 2
Struggling in the second period of a game at Philadelphia, the Capitals escaped through a combination of solid goaltending by Tomas Vokoun and some missed opportunities by the Flyers. They had a chance to tie the Caps. Instead, Washington came out energized in the third period and scored three times in a 2 minute, 25 second span. A late Philly goal was inconsequential as the Caps kept the hammer down throughout the third period en route to their sixth straight victory. Read all about it in our game story here.
That extends the new franchise record for wins to start a season. This is year No. 37 for Washington, which is tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the most standings points in the NHL. Only the Detroit Red Wings – who visit Verizon Center on Saturday night – remain without a regulation loss. They are 4-0 and face the hapless Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night.
An uneven first period saw both sides leave power-play chances on the board. Alex Ovechkin took a needless interference call just 39 seconds into a 4-on-3 power play. Washington was 0-for-3 with the man-advantage in the first and 1-for-6 overall. Philadelphia was 0-for-2 overall.
Down 1-0, Washington struck twice in the final 80 seconds of the first period. Ovechkin and Mathieu Perreault both scored and that sent the Caps into the dressing room up 2-1 with momentum instead of down 1-0 and fighting uphill. Perreault, by the way, was singled out by Boudreau as having maybe his best game in the NHL. But even after that ugly second period Washington found a way to quickly rebound.
“Well you know good teams find a way to rebound and make changes, and that’s what we are trying to become, a really good hockey team,” forward Joel Ward said. “You know we had some chances, Ovi put one back and we got the lead there and kind of just went from there, and tried to build off that. So you know, we just regrouped and came out and tried to play our game.”
But the momentum went away fast in the second period. Vokoun had to stop 40 of 42 shots.
“At least I’m used to it,” Vokoun cracked.
Yeah, while playing for the Florida Panthers. Here? That shouldn’t happen. But Vokoun was up to the task. He tried everything possible to stem Philadelphia’s push. The Flyers’ helped some and they also couldn’t catch a break when pressuring the net. What’s a goalie to do in that case?
“Well, freeze the puck. The best thing is to maybe stop the play, stop the momentum for them, and just make a good couple results, and kind of slow the game down,” Vokoun said. “And it’s not always possible, but that’s what you’re trying to do. They’re a good team, don’t get me wrong, we’ll be kidding ourselves, people like Philadelphia and teams like that they are going to make plays and they are going to pinch you in your zone and I give them credit. It’s a good team. We have our shifts they have theirs.”
Bruce Boudreau said Jeff Halpern suffered a pressure cut over his left eye in the third period and needed stitches. Halpern eventually returned to the game. Meanwhile, poor Brooks Laich took a beating with two Philadelphia high sticks from the always reckless Danny Briere to the face. Blood poured out of his nose both times. In fact, the Caps didn’t get a four-minute minor because the referee couldn’t tell if Laich’s cut was new the second time around or just a re-opening, if you will. Matt Hendricks also took a puck off the chest while blocking a shot. Rough night all around.
That gritty effort carried over. All five Washington goals were a direct result of players creating traffic in front and keeping Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov from seeing pucks coming his way.
“We like those goals. We like the pretty ones too, as long as they are going in,” Boudreau said. “I know we talked last game we didn’t get any rebound goals and we talked about going to the net and when you do good things usually happen. Tonight, Ovechkin got a goal going to the net, Perreault got a goal going to the net, and I think Hammers goal we had everyone converging to the net so it’s all good things.”
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