Physical Play, Jones’ Rebound Help Flyers Defeat Capitals

The Philadelphia Flyers played host to the Washington Capitals on Saturday night in South Philadelphia as the Flyers played their third of six preseason matchups on the schedule. The Flyers came into this game 0-2-0 in preseason action so far, but finally racked up their first win of the preseason with a 3-1 victory at Wells Fargo Center.

It was an eventful night from the beginning, as Oskar Lindblöm was whistled for a penalty just 1:35 into the game. He was sent to the box for tripping Garrett Pilon and the Capitals would earn the game’s first power play.

Aliaksei Protas made sure that Washington took full advantage of the power play. The initial shot taken by Trevor van Riemsdyk was blocked, but Protas was in the right place at the right time as he jumped on the loose puck and fired it past Martin Jones for the early 1-0 Washington lead.

The Flyers would get their own power play shortly afterwards, as Brett Leason was sent to the sin bin for high-sticking Derick Brassard at the 4:50 mark of the period. Philadelphia would have their chance to tie things up with the man-advantage, and they sure took it.

After a great keep-in at the blueline by Keith Yandle, Claude Giroux skated in and passed the puck to Sean Couturier. Couturier spotted Giroux open across the ice right after, and he wired a perfect pass to the captain as he blasted the one-timer home on Ilya Samsonov to get the Flyers on the board to make it 1-1.

Philadelphia would head to their second power play of the night at 10:06 of the opening frame after Protas was the guilty party on a trip against Justin Braun. The Flyers moved the puck well and generated chances but could not score on their second power play.

The Flyers would earn yet another power not long after that, as Nicolas Aubé-Kubel was cross-checked by Pilon and Philadelphia would get their third crack at the power play in the first period. Again, they showed plenty of great puck movement but could not solve Samsonov before Pilon exited the penalty box.

After a very physical first period, the Flyers and Capitals wound up tied at one goal apiece. The Flyers led the shots on goal at 14-8 and were certainly the more physical of the two clubs, leading in hits by a lopsided 14-4 advantage. That would mostly be in thanks to Rasmus Ristolainen, who led the team with four hits in the period. The big defenseman has never been afraid to throw around his body, and he certainly didn’t change that narrative in the first period.

The Flyers played as the better team for the majority of the period and looked to keep their foot on the gas.

Philadelphia came out for the second period absolutely buzzing. They were spending plenty of time in the Washington zone and got some quality scoring chances, including a Scott Laughton shot that rang iron with 16:53 left in the period.

The Flyers’ momentum would end as Travis Konecny was called for a cross-check on Nick Jensen at the 4:36 mark of the period. The Capitals’ second power play of the game did not fare as well for them as the first, as the Flyers were able to kill off Konecny’s penalty with relative ease.

Outside of the original surge by the Flyers at the beginning of the middle frame, along with a couple chances at both ends by the two teams afterwards, there was not much offense to be spoken of as the period wore on. The game was still very physical and both teams were laying the body on each other, however.

In an unusual turn of events, play was postponed momentarily as the Wells Fargo Center underwent a sudden power outage in certain parts of the building. Play was stopped with 2:54 remaining the second period, and the teams were sent to their respective dressing rooms as the arena’s crew went to work fixing the electrical issues.

After they fixed the lighting issues in the arena, the Flyers and Capitals returned to the ice after the intermission to finish the remaining 2:54 and then would begin the third period. The Flyers led the second period in shots on goal 10-9, and led overall in the game 24-17 after forty minutes of play. They also led the hits battle 20-11 and were winning 57.6% of the game’s faceoffs to that point.

The Flyers wasted no time at all breaking the tie to begin the third period. Lindblöm fired the puck in front to Cam Atkinson, and Atkinson was able to slam the puck home while Samsonov was out of position to give Philadelphia a 2-1 lead just two minutes into the final stanza.

After some back-and-forth play that resulted in a few shots but no goals, things definitely heated up with 8:37 remaining in the period. Ivan Provorov and Garnet Hathaway seemed ready to drop the gloves, and then Derick Brassard jumped in and all heck broke loose as both teams submerged into a full-fledged scrum along the boards next to the Philadelphia bench.

Provorov and James van Riemsdyk would end up in the penalty box as a result for the Flyers, and Hathaway would sit for Washington as the Capitals would earn a two-minute power play out of the events that unfolded. Washington would not convert despite a couple good shots and the game remained 2-1 in favor of Philadelphia. The bad blood had definitely not subsided either after the penalties ended.

With 3:04 remaining, the Flyers got some much needed insurance thanks to Scott Laughton. Aubé-Kubel set up Laughton for a breakaway at the Washington blueline, and he skated in and slid the puck backhanded through the legs of Samsonov to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead late in the game.

Laughton’s first tally of the preseason would all but seal the deal for Philadelphia as the Flyers hung for the 3-1 victory, marking their first win of the 2021-22 preseason.

As was the case on Thursday, the Flyers participated in another postgame exhibition shootout. Morgan Frost scored in the fifth round as he wristed a bullet past Samsonov, but Trevor van Riemsdyk responded for Washington with a goal of his own on Jones. Washington’s Joe Snively would finally win the skills competition in round nine with a backhand shot.

3 STARS OF THE GAME – 1) Claude Giroux – PHI, 2) Cam Atkinson – PHI, 3) Martin Jones – PHI