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Capitals @ Flyers Recap: Caps Get 4-1 Victory on Broad Street

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The Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers met tonight for the second time this season, this time in Philadelphia. Their Thanksgiving eve matchup ended with a third period comeback and an Alex Ovechkin OTGWG. The Caps were coming off arguably their best game of the season on Monday in Edmonton, and the Flyers were riding the high of beating the defending champs on Monday. Also, apparently it was Star Wars Night at Wells Fargo Center.

The Caps lined up like so tonight:

Charlie Lindgren was in net again for Washington with Hunter Shepard backing him up, as Darcy Kuemper is still listed as day-to-day. The Flyers had their own number 79 in net, young goalie Carter Hart. James van Riemsdyk also returned to their lineup for the first time since October 23 – just in time for a battle of brothers in the City of Brotherly Love.

Here’s Wednesday night’s Plus/Minus:

Plus: Charlie Lindgren, in his second start in a row for Washington, had a great outing against the Flyers. He made some stellar saves when he was called upon and was a big factor on the PK.

Minus: After Monday night’s excellent performance in Edmonton, this game from the team as a whole was disappointing. And Oshie might have saved the day on the Caps’ fourth power play, but the first three were painful to watch.

And now, more on the heartwarming story of Protas and his billet family:

A few more thoughts on tonight’s game:

1. T.J. Oshie was called for hooking Lukas Sedlak at 4:19, giving the Flyers the game’s first man-advantage. Washington’s PK has been the second-best in the league since the last time these two teams met, killing 88.9% of penalties. Philly’s power play, on the other hand, is ranked 30th in the league at just a 16% success rate, although they did go 2-for-3 against the Avalanche on Monday night. The Caps held the Flyers to just one shot on goal during Oshie’s penalty, keeping them off the board.

2. The Capitals got their own power play chance with 8:55 left in the first when Nicky Seely was called for hooking on Evgeny Kuznetsov. Both the Caps’ power play and Philly’s penalty kill are ranked 23rd in the league this season. Washington’s man-advantage was clicking on Monday against the Oilers, but they only registered one shot on goal during this opportunity and did not manage to get much going. Still 0-0 with just under seven minutes to go.

3. Conor Sheary took the period’s third hooking penalty, this one on Travis Sanheim, just two minutes after Seely’s penalty expired. The Flyers did not waste this opportunity, and Kevin Hayes got his team on the board with a center point shot that floated through traffic and beat Charlie Lindgren blocker side. 1-0 Philadelphia.

4. Less than a minute later, Alex Ovechkin was this close to scoring 794 but he was tripped up by Lukas Sedlak and his shot hit the crossbar. No goal, but the Caps did get their second power play chance of the period. Unlike the Flyers, the Caps did not convert (in fact, they did not even record a shot). Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your thoughts on the power play) the Caps quickly got another chance. With a mere 10 seconds before intermission, Zack MacEwen was called for tripping Trevor van Riemsdyk. Unfortunately, despite coming out for the second with a clean sheet of ice and rested legs they could not convert on this one either.

5. Perhaps the fourth time’s the charm? At 2:21 of the second, James van Riemsdyk took a seat for tripping Nick Jensen. Finally, T.J. Oshie broke through and got the Capitals on the board with his fifth goal of the year. This play was similar to Oshie’s PPG in Edmonton on Monday, but the set-up of the Kuznetsov-Strome-Oshie triangle was a bit different. No matter how you draw it up, it’s an effective play. With Ovechkin drawing two Flyers to him on defense, Oshie was free to wind up and fire a shot that went over Hart’s glove and bar down.

Shout out to Oshie, who we can always count on when the vibes are bad.

6. At 9:19 of the third, Dylan Strome gave the Capitals their first lead of the night on the game’s first five-on-five tally. After an incredible shift from the fourth line to build momentum, the Caps kept it going after a line change. Erik Gustafsson made a great slap pass to John Carlson, who fired a shot from above the right circle that Strome was in the perfect position for the deflection.

7. Just 30 seconds after Strome’s goal, when a team would usually like to keep building momentum, Gustafsson was dinged for a delay of game penalty and took a trip to the sin bin. Fortunately for Washington, Lindgren made a few excellent saves and the Caps’ PK continued to stand tall. Still 2-1 Caps with 9:59 to go.

8. The Flyers pulled Hart for the extra attacker with about two minutes to go, and who else but Alex Ovechkin sealed the deal with 1:35 to go with the 50th empty-netter of his career. That’s number 794, boys and girls and babes! But wait, there’s more! With 8.8 seconds to go, Ovechkin decided to score 795 with another empty netter and Caps win 4-1!

Washington finished this season-long six-game road trip with a 3-2-1 record. Up next for the Caps: finally returning home to face the Kraken this Friday, 7pm ET.

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