Victory puts Washington one point behind Philly for Eastern Conference lead
PHILADELPHIA – Maybe it was a preview of the Eastern Conference finals. Maybe it was simply a late regular-season game with little on the line save for seeding in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The coaches even tried to dampen the significance of Tuesday’s showdown between the Capitals and the Philadelphia Flyers.
But by the end of the night a 5-4 victory at Wells Fargo Center still felt pretty sweet for the Caps, who moved within a point of the first-place Flyers in the Eastern Conference and clinched a playoff berth. Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Knuble both scored in the first period, Washington blew a three-goal lead and it still persevered to take a 5-4 victory in a shootout.
Rookie center Marcus Johansson scored on a one-timer from a Knuble pass with just 3:19 remaining to tie the game at 4-4 and send it to overtime. Then in the shootout, goalie Michal Neuvirth stopped the second Philadelphia attempt, and Matt Hendricks, Backstrom and Alexander Semin all scored to seal the win.
| Caps notes |
| » Washington right wing Mike Knuble recorded his 20th goal of the season. That is the eighth consecutive year the veteran has accomplished that feat. He has five goals and eight points in his last six games. |
| » The Caps played without star left wing Alex Ovechkin (undisclosed injury), who missed a game for the first time all season. |
| » Washington now has a 36-0-3 record when scoring at least three goals in a game. |
With the win over the Flyers (44-19-9, 97 points), the Caps (43-21-10, 96 points) have won 13 of their last 15 games overall and thanks to a Tampa Bay loss now lead the Southeast Division by seven points.
Defenseman Dennis Wideman recorded his first goal with the Caps since being acquired at the NHL trade deadline from Florida. That came just 1:22 into the second period and was a power-play goal. Washington led 3-0 and appeared to have the game in hand.
The Flyers wouldn’t go away on home ice, however. Kris Versteeg banked the puck off Wideman’s skate and past Neuvirth at 8:05 of the second period. That seemed to change the momentum in Philadelphia’s favor. Defenseman Andrej Meszaros hit Neuvirth’s right post with a shot minutes later. With just 34 seconds left in the period, a pass from forward Andreas Nodl found its way to Claude Giroux alone on the left wing. He slammed a shot past Neuvirth to bring Philadelphia to within 3-2. Mike Richards hit another post in the third period as the Flyers pushed for the tie.
They finally got it when a turnover in the defensive zone — a pass from Jeff Schultz that was deflected by the quick stick of Giroux — landed at the skates of Nodl out front. He easily beat Neuvirth to wipe out the three-goal deficit. Danny Briere put the Flyers ahead with his goal at 14:15. It was only Johansson who prevented the meltdown.
