The Basics
On a day with Sean Walker extension and trade rumors aplenty, the Flyers still had a game to play. Unfortunately, the Orange and Black let a two-goal lead slip away en route to a 5-2 loss to yet another divisional opponent on the outside looking in.
First period: 1:52- Bobby Brink (Frost, Tippett), 18:23- Owen Tippett (Zamula, Frost) PPG
Second period: 4:34- Alexander Ovechkin (Wilson, Lapierre), 9:55- Sonny Milano (Pacioretty, Strome), 17:45- John Carlson (Lapierre, Sandin)
Third period: 6:04- Anthony Mantha (Strome, Wilson) PPG, 15:38- Dylan Strome (Pacioretty, Edmundson)
SOG: 26 (PHI) – 21 (WSH)
Some Takeaways
All Flyers in the first
The Flyers opened the game strong, on the backs of a newly formed Tippett-Frost-Brink line. Less than two minutes into the opening stanza, Tippett did well to tuck the puck past Capitals’ defenseman Rasmus Sandin at the Flyers’ blue line, leading to a two-on-one with Morgan Frost. Tippett found Frost for an unchallenged one timer, but was stopped by Charlie Lindgren. Brink, however, was Johnny-on-the-spot, sprinting to the rebound and fending off a checker to put the puck into the open net, which had been left vacated by Lindgren after initially stopping Frost.
Tippett found the back of the net himself later in the period, this time via a snipe on the power play. He had been held scoreless the last four games. With his second assist on the evening, Morgan Frost reached the 100 point milestone.
Five straight Capitals’ goals
It was a tale of two periods for the Flyers; they looked a tick slower in the second frame despite several days of rest. The Capitals were afforded too much middle ice and several high danger chances. They took advantage, striking five times consecutively without a retort from the Flyers. Alexander Ovechkin (839) scored the first Washington tally, inching closer to the Great One’s record of 894.
After the Capitals made it 3-2, John Tortorella could be seen berating Bobby Brink for not collapsing on John Carlson’s wraparound attempt to negate the chance.
The Caps added two more goals in the third to put the game fully out of reach.
Shortened bench unable to stop the bleeding
Brink never saw the ice again after getting an earful from his coach. Neither did Olle Lycksell, though it’s not as clear why. Both skaters were minus-1. Effectively, the Flyers were operating with just ten forwards in the third while chasing a deficit. That decision likely won’t bode well in the second half of back-to-back against the Ottawa Senators tomorrow.
Yet another squandered opportunity
The Metropolitan Division has not been kind to the Flyers of late; they’ve now dropped six straight divisional games dating back to January 4. With this latest loss, that’s three chances wasted since falling to the Devils in the Stadium Series to put much needed cushion between themselves and the teams chasing them in the standings.
