Flyers 5, Caps 4 (shootout)
You knew the hockey gods were going to exact some retribution after the Caps hit the post three times in the first seven minutes of Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Flyers. That’s just the way it works. Philadelphia scored twice in the second period, blew a two-goal lead and another one-goal lead in the final minute, but escaped with two points after the shootout. Read all the details in our game story here.
But as Bruce Boudreau pointed out – there are some positives to take from a game where you fight back to gain a point. The Caps have lost once in regulation over their last 11 games and are 14-5-2 with 30 points through 21 games. That’s excellent – even if they haven’t always played exactly the way they want to.
Count tonight among those. Just too many penalties as Philadelphia had nine power plays and Washington earned seven. Caps actually did a nice job to kill eight of them and scored on three of their own. But in the second game of a back-to-back that many penalties is going to wear any team down – even if the coaches, to put it mildly, didn’t agree with how the game was being officiated.
“I think the refs had too much control over the game tonight,” Boudreau said. “When you’re 18 minutes shorthanded – and on a lot of them rinky-dink little calls – but once you start doing that you have to continue doing that. So it was a tough game. If there wasn’t very many penalties it probably would have been a 2-1 game. That’s the way it started out to be.”
Boudreau said rookie center Marcus Johansson had his best game of the season and it’s hard to dispute that. Johansson was dangerous in the offensive end, used his speed to create chances and opened the scoring at 8:10 of the first period with his second goal. He skated 13:15 of ice time with three shots while anchoring the third line. Not perfect of course. Johansson had three giveaways and won just three of nine faceoffs. But all in all a night to build on.
Alex Semin, meanwhile, turned in one of his worst efforts in a season filled with far more good than bad. He took three penalties, including an offensive-zone trip late in the game that almost submarined Washington’s chances completely. He did have an assist on Eric Fehr’s goal in the final minute that sent the game to overtime, but finished a -1 on the night.
“[Semin] didn’t have a very good game,” Boudreau said. “He’s had a lot of great games for us this year. Today wasn’t one of them.”
Alex Ovechkin again played fewer minutes than we’re used to seeing in years past. He was at 22:51 tonight, hit the post on one show and fumbled the puck as he drove in on Flyers goalie Brian Boucher in the second. Ovechkin took three shots and had another five blocked. He also missed the net completely six times and was credited with just a single hit. Ovechkin had the primary assist on Nicklas Backstrom’s power-play goal at 11:03 of the third period that jumpstarted Washington’s comeback.
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