Flyers 4, Capitals 3: The best shootout team in hockey?

Don\'t look now, but the Philadelphia Flyers may just be the best shootout team in the entire NHL. Thursday night, the Flyers earned their third shootout victory of the season, taking down the Washington Capitals by a score of 4-3 at Wells Fargo Center. They\'ve yet to lose in the shootout 29 games into the 2023-24 campaign.

With this victory, the Flyers have earned points in seven straight games dating back to November 30.

The Basics

First period: Scoreless

Second period: 2:14 — Brink (Staal, Frost), 3:00 — McMichael (Protas, Mantha), 15:29 — Wilson (Strome, Oshie)

Third period: 5:25 — Farabee (Poehling), 9:05 — Strome (Protas, Wilson), 17:01 — Tippett (Frost)

Overtime: Scoreless

Takeaways

Ersson strong in place of Hart

Carter Hart was initially expected to earn the start against the Capitals, but was ultimately held out of the tilt due to an illness. Sam Ersson filled in for his second consecutive start, and the 24-year-old did not disappoint.

Ersson made 27 saves on 30 Capitals shots, including several enormous stops that kept the Flyers in the game. His biggest stop of the night came in the middle period when he made a massive pad save on former Flyer Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who broke loose for a breakaway.

https://twitter.com/BroadStHockey/status/1735471691340431872

He also allowed the first shootout goal of his NHL career, but can anyone really blame him for letting T.J. Oshie get one past him on a one-on-one?

This victory comes at a great time for Ersson, who allowed a soft goal in overtime against the Nashville Predators Tuesday night. On short notice, he bounced right back and put together a stellar performance on home ice against a division rival.

Tippett nets the clutch goal

When the Flyers needed a big goal, Owen Tippett stepped up.

With 2:59 remaining in regulation, Tippett netted the equalizer by beating Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren with a long-range wrist shot from the blue line through the legs of defenseman Travis Sanheim, who created traffic down low.

Tippett now has 10 goals and 18 points on the season. His offensive production hasn\'t quite met his preseason expectations, but the 24-year-old remains an integral piece in the Flyers\' top six. He\'s generating chances on a nightly basis, and he got some good puck luck Thursday at the best time possible.

Brink comes up big

Bobby Brink continues to impress. The 22-year-old rookie netted the icebreaker 2:14 into the second period by chipping a bouncing puck past Lindgren. Marc Staal (!) made the goal possible by creating a juicy rebound with a point wrister through traffic.

Brink later netted the game-winning goal in the shootout, foreseeing a Lindgren poke check and dancing around the Caps netminder to easily tuck the puck past the goal line. Lindgren successfully pulled off the poke check on Tyson Foerster\'s shootout bid, but Brink was prepared for it on his attempt.

At this point, Brink has not only established himself as a full-time NHLer, but also as a key cog in the Flyers\' lineup. The Minnetonka native has logged five goals and 14 points through 24 games while earning a considerable amount of minutes on the power play.

The Flyers really have something in this kid.

A chink in the penalty kill\'s armor

The Flyers\' penalty kill has been arguably the best PK unit in the NHL over the last two weeks, killing off 16 straight enemy power plays since the start of December.

Thursday night, the PK\'s run of perfection came to an end.

Late in the second period, Capitals forward Tom Wilson broke a 1-1 tie by netting his third power-play goal of the season, beating Ersson from the back door off a feed from Dylan Strome.

It\'s likely no coincidence that the Capitals\' power-play goal came while Scott Laughton — one of the Flyers\' best penalty killers — was in the penalty box serving an interference minor.

The PK was bound to give up a goal eventually, and it\'s fortunate that the small blemish came on a night the Flyers earned a victory.

Talking Points