Hart, Atkinson Hurt as Flyers Get Routed by Capitals

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

As the first period progresses, injury was added to insult. The Flyers had allowed three goals in the first 14 minutes to fall behind 3-1, then lost two players for the remainder of the game, including their goaltender following the first.

The 40 minutes that followed were ugly. The Flyers allowed six more goals in the final two periods in a 9-2 drubbing to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night.

Washington got on the board first as Alex Ovechkin got his own rebound and banked it in off Carter Hart to make it 1-0 at 6:01 of the first.

Five minutes later, a quick barrage of goals followed. First, T.J. Oshie got a rebound and scored to make it 2-0 at 11:24. Just 36 seconds later, James van Riemsdyk got a breakaway and scored to cut the lead to one. Martin Fehervary restored the two-goal lead again just 1:16 later, weaving his way through the Flyers defense before beating Hart.

Through 20 minutes, shots were 10-8 Washington. After the first period, Hart and Cam Atkinson exited with injuries. Hart allowed three goals on 10 shots.

The Capitals got the only two goals of the second period. On a transition rush, Lars Eller finished things off after some quick passing by Tom Wilson and Anthony Mantha to make it 4-1 at 6:39. Then, at 15:30, Conor Sheary was left all alone in front on a defensive breakdown and finished his chance to make it 5-1.

Through two periods, shots were 24-15 Washington.

Washington added four more in the third. At 3:31, Matt Irwin fired from the point and beat Martin Jones to make it 6-1 with his first goal of the season. Less than three minutes later at 5:59, Eller got his second of the night on a partial break. At 12:42, Garnet Hathaway deflected in a shot by Justin Schultz to make it 8-1. 

The Flyers got on the board again with 3:34 remaining on a power-play goal by van Riemsdyk that deflected off his leg. Just over a minute later, Johan Larsson capped the scoring with his first goal as a Capital on the power play.

Ilya Samsonov finished with 19 saves on 21 shots. Jones made 21 saves on 27 shots in relief.

Schultz finished with three assists. Nine other Capitals had two-point games. In his NHL debut, Bobby Brink played 14:27 and had an assist for his first NHL point, two shots on goal, one hit, and two blocked shots.

The Flyers are right back on the ice on Wednesday night to take on the New York Rangers at home at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• WSH Alex Ovechkin (46) (Conor Sheary, Evgeny Kuznetsov) 6:01
• WSH T.J. Oshie (9) (John Carlson, Nicklas Backstrom) 11:24
• PHI James van Riemsdyk (19) (Unassisted) 12:00
• WSH Martin Fehervary (8) (Nic Dowd, Garnet Hathaway) 13:16

2nd Period

• WSH Lars Eller (11) (Anthony Mantha, Tom Wilson) 6:39
• WSH Sheary (17) (Kuznetsov) 15:30

3rd Period

• WSH Matt Irwin (1) (Justin Schultz, Johan Larsson) 3:31
• WSH Eller (12) (Mantha, Trevor van Riemsdyk) 5:59
• WSH Hathaway (12) (Schultz, Matt Irwin) 12:42
• PHI van Riemsdyk (20) PP (Kevin Hayes, Bobby Brink) 16:26
• WSH Larsson (7) PP (Schultz, Dowd) 17:32

Game Statistics