Sometimes it takes 20 minutes for rivals to warm up their hate machines, and that’s been the case here.
Plenty of heavy checking and extracurriculars in the second frame, resulting in three penalties and lots of why-I-oughtas. Then, with Matt Niskanen firing the biscuit at the basket from deep, Travis Boyd leapt and redirected it down and in, giving Washington a 2-0 lead.
But Philadelphia answered back. With T.J. Oshie in the box for a desperate backchecking holding penalty, Jakub Voracek dented the back of the net from the circle to make it 2-1.
There’s twenty minutes to settle this.
Third period ahead…