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Snapshots of the Week Ahead: Week 14

Week 14 is a light week on the Washington Capitals’ schedule – two games, one opponent. But given the long history the teams have against one another, a two-game week against the Philadelphia Flyers might be action-packed.

The Opponents

Philadelphia Flyers (Wednesday/7:00 pm at Wells Fargo Center and Saturday/7:00 pm at Capital One Arena)

The Caps play their second home-and-home set of games of the season and their first against a Metropolitan Division foe this season (the Caps split a home-and-home with Tampa Bay in November). The two-game set will conclude the season series between the teams, the Caps winning the first two contests – 3-2 in overtime on November 23rd in Washington and 4-1 on December 7th in Philadelphia).

The Flyers head into the new week as one of the hotter clubs in the league at the moment, winners of four of their last five contests (they had a four-game winning streak snapped by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night). What they found, at least for the moment, is consistency on both sides of the puck. In that four-game winning streak The Flyers scored four goals in each of the first three games before posting six in a 6-2 win over Arizona on Thursday. Only in the first game of the streak did the Flyers allow as many as three goals and have allowed a combined five goals over their last three games.

This year’s Flyers team is an improvement from last year’s, but the 2021-2022 squad was historic in its futility. The .372 points percentage with which last year’s club finished was second-worst in team history, and while the .463 points percentage this year’s club carries into the new week is an improvement, it is modest, still the seventh-worst in 55 seasons of Flyers hockey. This years’ 2.75 goals per game scoring offense is an improvement over last year’s third-worst in team history 2.56 goals scored per game, but it still ranks tied for 12th worst in franchise history. This year’s 3.30 goals allowed per game might be an improvement over last season’s eighth-worst in team history 3.59 goals allowed per game, but it is still 14th-worst in franchise history.  The improvements, such as they are, have been modest.

The home-and-home set will open in Philadelphia, where the Flyers have been showing a bit too much “brotherly love” this season. They go into the new week with an 8-10-1 record at Wells Fargo Center, tied for 25th in the league in points earned at home (17) and is tied for 27th in points percentage (.447). Unsurprisingly, Flyer scoring – for and against – is similarly stuck in the 20’s in the league rankings, tied for 26th in scoring offense (2.79 goals per game) and 24th in scoring defense (3.42 goals allowed per game). The Flyer special teams have been hot and cold, the power play an icy 17.2 percent on home ice (27th), while the penalty kill, at 79.6 percent, ranks 13th.

On the road, the Flyers have been hardly better. Their 7-8-6 record is tied for 20th in points earned (20), while their .476 points percentage ranks 24th in the league. The road record is a bit more complicated, though. While scoring has here, too, been an issue (2.71 goals per game/27th in scoring offense), Philadelphia’ road scoring defense has not been that bad (3.19 goals against per game/T-14th). Their special teams, though, have been poor on both sides of the puck – a 15.0 percent power play (31st) and a 72.1 percent penalty kill (26th). They are just 3-for-32 in their last 12 road games (9.4 percent), and only Columbus has fewer power play goals in road games (five) than the Flyers (nine).

These will be the 238th and 239th meetings of the Capitals and Flyers in series history. Washington has an overall record of 97-110-11 (19 ties), 53-46-4 (13 ties) at home and 44-64-7 (six ties) on the road.

Hot Caps:

Cold Caps:

Weird Facts:

Potential Milestones to Reach This Week (or soon):

John Carlson

Nic Dowd

Matt Irwin

Marcus Johansson

Evgeny Kuznetsov

T.J. Oshie

Dmitry Orlov

Alex Ovechkin

Dylan Strome

Trevor van Riemsdyk

Tom Wilson

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