Flyers stay persistent to beat Caps
Game Story
The Philadelphia Flyers got things started on an early power play. The Flyers scored only seconds in to the power play, thanks to some nice passing and a pretty finish from Brayden Schenn. The goal boosted the Flyers, and their continued pressure paid off when Evgeny Kuznetsov played the puck right to Ryan White in the slot. White fired it in to make the game 2-0.
The Washington Capitals seemed to wake up at that point, and came out much harder in the second period. They had the first 10 shots on goal of the period, and by that time had tied the game, 2-2. First, when Andre Burakovsky beat Michal Neuvirth, and then Michael Del Zotto, Wayne Simmonds and Claude Giroux were all mesmerized by the puck on T.J. Oshie's stick and forgot all about Nicklas Backstrom trailing. Fortunately for the Flyers, they took a lead into the third period when Jakub Voracek sniped one in off a faceoff before Caps goalie Braden Holtby had any idea what was happening.
In the third, the Caps again ratcheted up the pressure. They tied the game when Scott Laughton couldn't handle a puck, and was jumped upon by Kuznetsov. Breaking in, Kuznetsov played the puck across for Burakovsky's second goal. The teams played pretty evenly from there, sending the game to overtime. In overtime, the Caps never had a chance to play the puck before Voracek scored a beautiful, spinning goal. The 4-3 win sends the Flyers into the all-star break on positive note, beating the best team in the East.
Forwards
It was a bit of an odd night in terms of Corsi, as the usually reliable Flyers top line were underwater, while the bottom-six had better numbers. The Giroux line had a bad game in terms of shot attempts, losing out to both the Alexander Ovechkin line and the Kuznetsov line. Despite these shot attempt totals, they did have their share of chances, and scored one goal.
The Michael Raffl line also lost out in their matchups to the Caps' top lines, but played better against the Caps third line. It was ultimately a quiet game for this group, other than the power play goal from Brayden Schenn.
The most interesting night came from the Laughton line. They had the best Corsi off all Flyers lines, and only great saves from Holtby kept Umberger and Gagner off the scoresheet. This line finished the game minus-2, however, conceding both Burakovsky goals.
Defense
On the defensive side, this was an interesting test for new pairings. It was a particularly big night for Shayne Gostisbehere, playing alongside ice time leader Michael Del Zotto. The results were mixed.
The Ghost-MDZ pair had a rough game in terms of shot attempts, putting them at the bottom of the Flyers defense. They also conceding a few goals, but Ghost still ended the night with an even plus-minus and two assists from the power play and 3v3 overtime. Mostly playing against the Ovechkin line can have that effect, and perhaps playing with the lead cut into the usually high ice time of Del Zotto as a skill pair.
The unlikely pair of Radko Gudas and Brandon Manning had a surprising night, leading the team in Corsi and minutes. They were the only pair that stayed even against the slippery Kuznetsov, and this was a ton of minutes for Manning compared to his usual duty. Both players finished plus-1, and tied for the team lead with three hits by a defenseman.
Mark Streit and Nick Schultz avoided the Ovechkin line, but had tough deployment with zero offensive zone faceoffs. Their overall Corsi wasn't great and they played the fewest 5v5 minutes, but they did get forward pretty well chipping in six shots while Schultz blocked five shots.
Marc Naples is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter@SuperScrub47.
