Washington Capitals

The Flyers next four games are against top teams in the league. It starts with the team right at the top of the NHL standings, the Washington Capitals, who dominated their way to a 6-1 win over Ottawa on Tuesday night.

The result may have been a 2-1 shootout loss for the Flyers, snapping a four-game winning streak, but it was once again a small moral victory early in the season, a game where they at least showed they can hang with a top contender in the league.

Facing the league’s best team proved to be too much for the Flyers in the end, with the Flyers dropping a 2-1 decision in a shootout to the Washington Capitals, but not before a highly competitive and entertaining game at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night.

The Flyers will be back on home ice, where they enter play on Wednesday with a 6-1-1 record, but get the task of facing the NHL’s best team, the Washington Capitals.

The Flyers announced that they have acquired defenseman Matt Niskanen from the Washington Capitals in exchange for defenseman Radko Gudas.

Last week, it was already known that the President’s Trophy winners, the Tampa Bay Lightning, were eliminated, as were the Pittsburgh Penguins. Six other teams have joined, and many of them were near the top of the regular-season standings.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that tied an NHL record with 62 wins in the regular season, were swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets in four games. The Pittsburgh Penguins, the Stanley Cup champions in 2016 and 2017, were also swept by the New York Islanders in four games.

The Flyers were defeated by the Capitals, 3-1, on Sunday afternoon.

The Capitals didn’t win Thursday’s game with their stars, but their depth, getting good goaltending when they needed it and players to step up. For the Flyers, it was a reminder that a young defense can still pay the price for costly mistakes and that the depth needs to improve.