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Wrap: Flyers Come up Short in DC, Lose 3-1 to Caps |
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Wrap: Flyers Come up Short in DC, Lose 3-1
Whatever faint hopes the Philadelphia Flyers still had of making the playoffs faded away as they dropped back-to-back games in regulation over the weekend. A 3-1 loss on Sunday afternoon in Washington followed a 4-2 home setback at the hands of the New York Islanders the previous day.
The Flyers played an exponentially better game on Sunday against the Capitals than they did the Islanders, including a downright dominant second period versus the defending Stanley Cup champions. Overall for the game, The Flyers had an advantage of 74-47 in total shot attempts.
It went for naught, however. The Flyers are just 2-5-0 over their last seven games and 6-6-0 in the last 12.
First and foremost, Braden Holtby was the biggest difference-maker for Washington. The former Vezina Trophy winner was magnificent in stopping 35 of 36 Flyers shots, including multiple tough saves at crucial juncture. Holtby turned back 19 of 20 shots in the second period alone, and was under siege for much of the frame. Early in the third period, he authored two good saves on Jakub Voracek with Washington ahead by one goal.
The Washington goal support came -- in picket fence fashion -- from Tom Wilson (22nd) in the first period, Travis Boyd (5th) in the second and an insurance goal by Jakub Vrana (22nd) in the third.
The lone Flyers goal was an unassisted power play tally by Voracek (20th) late in the second period to cut the gap to 2-1. Voracek has now reached the 20+ goal mark in his NHL career six times (all with the Flyers), and in three straight campaigns.
With Carter Hart having been bombarded with a combined 81 shots in the last two games and the team in the final segment of a back-to-back/ three-in-four stretch, head coach Scott Gordon gave him the day off on Sunday. Brian Elliott got the start, with Cam Talbot as his backup.
Elliott did just about all that could be reasonably expected of him. He made some tough stops when needed, and had no chance on either of the first two Washington goals; both of which were nasty deflections that would have gone in against any goalie. The veteran didn't look good on Vrana's breakaway tally -- which went cleanly through a rather large five-hole -- but that was just the end of a poor all-around sequence by the Flyers. Overall, Elliott stopped 27 of 30 shots, including a pair of closely spaced 2-on-1 rushes.
The Flyers went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill, including one in which Elliott made two tough stops among three saves and then another right after the penalty expired. The first kill by Philly was pretty emphatic. Philly went 1-for-4 on the power play.
Wilson made it 1-0 for Washington at 3:52 of an otherwise evenly played first period, as he went to the slot and deflected home a Nick Jensen shot. Shots in the first period were 11-11 with Philly actually generating more shots (five) from below and between the dots than Washington but unable to solve Holtby.
The second period was all Philly except where it mattered; a 1-1 tie on the scoreboard for that frame and a 2-1 deficit overall heading into the third period. A turnover by Sean Couturier and a deflection by Boyd of a Matt Niskanen shot gave Washington a 2-1 lead at 10:47.
The Flyers finally got a puck past Holtby at 17:10. James van Riemsdyk, who played another active (and, by his usually gentlemanly standards, ornery) game drew a penalty on Brooks Orpik on an odd-man rush at 16:51. Couturier won the ensuing faceoff. The Flyers got the puck to the net and a scramble ensued. Sweeping the puck away from in front toward the boards, Niskanen put it right on the stick of Voracek. From the right side, Voracek ripped a shot that found the net.
Philly, which had a 20-7 shot edge in the second period, came out pressuring again early in the third. The air went out of the balloon after Vrana scored a breakaway goal through the five-hole at 8:07. The trouble started with Robert Hägg making a bad pinch deep into Washington territory and Phil Myers trying to cover the point on Hägg's side. Myers then made a gamble, and lost as he was unable to get the puck in deep. Brett Connolly claimed it and sent it ahead to Vrana. From there, Vrana made it look easy.
Holtby made one additional 10-bell save -- a point-blank stop on Ryan Hartman -- as Philly tried to make a late push. Overall, though, the Flyers seemed to know they were cooked after it became 3-1. Washington ended up with a 12-5 shot edge in the final frame.
The Flyers won three of four games against Washington in last year's season series. This season, not only did the Flyers get swept with four regulation losses (three within the month of March), they never held a lead at any point of any of the four games. Sunday's performance was the Flyers' best among the four, but that is basically meaningless at this point.
Philly has six games remaining on their schedule. They will take an off-day on Monday, practice on Tuesday and then host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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