If the Flyers were going to stay alive and extend their playoff run, they were going to need a steady effort in goal from Michal Neuvirth.
And in his second playoff start of the series, Neuvirth delivered. Neuvirth more than answered the call, in fact, turning away what seemed to be an endless barrage of frozen rubber on Friday in the Flyers' 2-0 Game 5 win over the Washington Capitals.
Neuvirth finished with a 44-save shutout, his first in the playoffs since 2011. He becomes the first Flyers goalie to post a shutout in the playoffs since Brian Boucher turned away 29 Buffalo shots on April 20, 2011.
Ryan White opened the scoring for the Flyers, with his second-career playoff goal at 7:52 of the second stanza off of a deflection from Taylor Chorney. The goal was scored just seven seconds after Justin Williams served a minor for high-sticking.
Chris VandeVelde added an empty-net tally with 30.8 seconds remaining, as he and the Flyers' fourth line were dealt with the significant task of shutting the Caps' top scorers down.
Brayden Schenn set the tone for the Flyers just 10 seconds into the game, dropping the gloves with (and subsequently pummeling) T.J. Oshie. The fight was in response to Schenn's cross-check on Evgeny Kuznetsov in Game 4, which the Capitals took particular umbrage with.
While the Flyers finished with more goals, they were dominated just about everywhere else on the scoresheet. The Capitals managed four times as many shots as they did (44-11), won more faceoffs (38-34) and played a more physically-imposing game (35 hits to the Flyers' 17).
Neuvirth and Braden Holtby essentially played on polar-opposite ends of the spectrum. Holtby faced just 10 shots all game, and just about had his workload cut out for him.
The Capitals also played with a significant lack of discipline all game, giving the Flyers a total of six powerplays on five penalties called (one of which was a Williams high-sticking double minor early in the first period). The Orange and Black were not able to cash in on any of those power plays, but their penalty-killing units held the Caps scoreless on three attempts.
At the end of the day though, the Flyers won where it counts the most. They've cut the Capitals' series lead to just one game now, and have shifted the series back to Wells Fargo Center for Game 6 on Sunday. Start time is still undecided, but Flyerdelphia will have more information when it becomes available.
UPDATE: Puck drop for Game 6 is set for noon on Sunday.
Rob Riches is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @Riches61
