Newcomer Dylan Strome scored twice as the Washington Capitals defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-1, in preseason action from the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night in South Philadelphia.
Kevin Hayes scored the lone goal for the Flyers, who dropped their second-straight game of the preseason in the process. Netminders Felix Sandstrom and Samuel Ersson were both solid between the pipes, but the Flyers’ lack of offense was again present in lighting the lamp just once as was the case last night against the Buffalo Sabres.
First period
Not much happening early on as both teams traded blows in the neutral zone, but Travis Sanheim got caught on a tripping call a little over four minutes in for an early penalty kill evaluation chance.
A clear from free agent signing Nic Deslauriers helped kill off the Caps’ power play though a couple howitzers were fired wide without forcing Flyers goalie Felix Sandstrom to make a save.
Both teams were victims of missing the net as Tyson Foerster — skating with Kevin Hayes on the Flyers’ de-facto first line — had a great chance in front from the left circle but fired the puck up off the glass out and with eight minutes remaining in the first.
Best scoring chance of the night with a little over five minutes left on a dandy setup from Scott Laughton to Wade Allison, but the backhander was denied by Charlie Lindgren and the follow up chance from Olle Lycksell careened away. Lycksell started the rush with a nice feed in the neutral zone to send in Laughton for the eventual chances.
Plenty of eyes were on Anthony DeAngelo and Ivan Provorov as the Flyers’ top pair on defense in the first, with mostly uneventful shifts until late in the frame when eAngelo just handcuffed Provorov with a backhand pass in the neutral zone, resulting in a quick Provorov turnover. As the broadcast team noted, the pair hasn’t been stapled together in training camp and this presented their first game action together.
After 20: Flyers 0, Capitals 0
Of course after a strong first period Wade Allison got squeezed along the boards hard and had to head to the locker room for a bit but was able to return in short order.
Connor Brown would get the scoring started for the Caps, taking a bouncing puck in the Flyers’ zone and firing one past Sandstrom to make it 1-0. Provorov couldn’t corral the puck and Brown made no mistake, beating Sandstrom clean to the glove side.
Rough few minutes for the Flyers followed and Egor Zamula ended up taking a hooking call to give the Capitals another power play chance with 13:45 remaining in the period.
Washington would take advantage as Dylan Strome ripped home a one-timer to push the lead to 2-0 with 12:18 left. No real chance for Sandstrom on a perfectly placed shot.
A really dreadful period by the Flyers — even for preseason standards — as they were badly outshot in the double digits, and hardly controlled the puck in the Caps’ zone with any regularity. Against a largely AHL-based lineup for the Caps, not a great sign for the Flyers icing a ton of their regulars.
With 3:15 left in the second we got our first look at the DeAngelo experience quarterbacking the power play. Nothing doing for the Flyers on the advantage though, and the better chances came from the second unit led by Travis Sanheim.
After 40: Capitals 2, Flyers 0
Into the game and right into the fire for goaltender Samuel Ersson, who checked in for Sandstrom and needed to make a save on Trevor van Riemsdyk within the first minute of the third.
Allison went off for hooking former Flyers great Mike Vecchione to put the Caps back on the power play early on but it was killed off without incident.
A turnover from the Caps in their own zone ended up in the back of their net, as Owen Tippett fed Hayes for the one-time off a 2-on-1 to make it 2-1 Caps. Allison forced the turnover that started the play for Tippett and Hayes to finish off.
🚨 GOAL! 🚨
Hollywood buries a feed from Tipper and cuts the deficit in half. #WSHvsPHI pic.twitter.com/dLx81Ap2yX
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) September 29, 2022
Not much else happening in the third.
— RMNB (@rmnb) September 29, 2022
Exactly after adding that in the Caps fell into a 2-on-0 and Strome picked up his second of the game from Brown to make it 3-1 with 3:40. Absolutely no chance for Ersson as the Flyers turned the puck over and left their netminder out to dry rather literally.
Nothing else doing for the Flyers in a comeback bid as they’d fall by the difference of those two goals from Strome.
