Courtesy: USA TODAY Sports
No Alexander Ovechkin for the Washington Capitals, no problem as the Philadelphia Flyers were outclassed in their own building 7-0 by the Capitals Friday night.
It was a game that will be remembered for the horrible brawl that ensued between both teams, including the goaltenders, in the third period, but Washington dominated where it counted most. The Flyers have been struggling all season long and the Capitals were able to gain the advantage late in the first and didn’t stop after that.
A slow start for Washington was masked by the fact that Philadelphia struggles to put pucks in the net as the Capitals didn’t take their first shot on net until there were less than five minutes to go in the first period. The Caps only outshot the Flyers by two shots, but of their 32 attempts, seven hit the back of the net. Anytime a team can explode for five goals in the second period, head coach Adam Oates has to be pleased with the way his team buried their rivals and kept the foot on the gas in the third period as well.
Capitals forward Joel Ward was able to capture his first career NHL hat trick Friday night and was wreaking a lot of havoc in front of the Philadelphia net. Goalies Steve Mason and Ray Emery had trouble dealing with the Capitals creating scoring chances all over the ice and making the most of their offensive opportunities. In addition to Ward, center Nicklas Backstrom played with a more aggressive shooting style and was able to net two goals and an assist. It was a change of pace from his usual “playmaker” style, where he usually looks to pass to captain Alexander Ovechkin, but it was good to see Nicklas stepping up on behalf of Washington’s GR8.
Another positive the Capitals have to take from this drubbing is they held the shutout defensively. Philadelphia was able to put 30 shots on goal at Washington goaltender Braden Holtby, but Holtby was able to deny each and every opportunity. The Flyers had a late third period charge to try and avoid being defeated by a touchdown, but the Capitals goaltender stood tall, while his defense seemed to lose focus with being ahead by such a large margin.
There will probably be some sort of fallout for both organizations due to the brawl that ensued in the third period. It had to be expected given that fact that these two teams are division rivals and the game was out of hand earlier than expected. The Flyers are also a bad hockey team and would do anything to deter any momentum the Capitals had built up in the game. Suspensions and fines will likely happen, it’s just a matter of crunching the numbers at this point.
Washington finally returns home after a five-game road trip spanning Canada and Philadelphia as the Capitals will take on the Florida Panthers Saturday night. The Caps will look to improve to 7-7-0 and try to hit the .500 mark once again in 2013-14.
