Ovi Nets Two as Caps Sink Flyers
By Scott Cole
It was a close game until Alex Ovechkin scored two empty netters to down the Flyers in their final game of a five game homestand. The Capitals took the contest 4-1 as the Flyers went 2-3 on their homestand. They will embark on a four game road trip that will first take them to Vegas on Friday night.
The Flyers got off to an early lead in this one. With Conor Sheary in the sin bin for hooking, Kevin Hayes ripped off a beautiful one timer. A lot of traffic in front of the net caused problems for Charlie Lindgren and he never saw it. Philly went up 1-0 with a rare power play goal. Though it hasn’t been rare as of late. The Flyers have power play goals in three straight games.
They would hold that lead for most of the game until T.J. Oshie scored on a power play for Washington at 3:51 into the second period. The game would remain tied until halfway into the third when Dylan Strome struck.
With time running out, John Tortorella pulled Carter Hart. It was here that Ovechkin scored two goals to put the game out of reach. Ovi now has 795 career goals and is six away from tying Gordie Howe for second all-time in goals scored.
Hart had a great game, giving up just two goals on 25 shots. Likewise, the Flyers threw everything they had at Lindgren, but only managed to get the one of the 30 shots taken through.
You can sense some frustration starting to build with the players. Travis Konecny was one to share the frustration that is seeping in after these games.
"“We work our fricking bags off every night, we work so hard. There’s a lot of credit to be given out, but we hate losing. Just tired of looking at the positives all the time.”"
This team plays hard, but the results aren’t there. Either they will crack under the pressure or they will rally around each other and become stronger. This upcoming road trip will say a lot.
On a positive note, James van Riemsdyk returned and had two shots while playing 12 minutes. The team is getting healthy and that can definitely help as they spend some time together in the road coming up the rest of this month.