First-period breakdown: If the Flyers game plan was to draw multiple penalties and keep the Caps on the PK, they succeeded.
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The Capitals did take their chance on the power play, with John Carlson scoring in the second period with a shot that deflected in off teammate Chris VandeVelde. Marcus Johansson stole the puck from Flyers forward Jakub Voracek, skated into the zone and passed to Beagle, who scored from the slot.
Instead of the Flyers going on a power play down 1-0 with 6:51 remaining in the third period, Simmonds missed the remainder of regulation.
That, finally, allowed Washington to put one past Steve Mason, who was nothing short of brilliant in net. Philadelphia has a reputation for running opposing goaltenders, so Holtby understands what’s coming his way.
Every year you ask me the same question, This is the year, this is the year? Ovechkin said. We had good structure in every part of the ice. He suffered an upper-body injury in the second period on this hit from Alexander Ovechkin and did not return to the game. The Blues’ gift for a 103-point season? But this year, they are as heavily favored as they’ve ever been, probably more so than any other year that the Capitals have reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I don’t know whose going to win, but I feel the series is going to go seven games.
The EA SPORTS Stanley Cup Playoff Simulation is conducted in-game using EA SPORTS NHL 16 and real-life data from NHL players and teams. “There’s some things that we’ll clean up and talk about, some things that certainly we can do better in a lot of different respects”. That played right into the Capitals’ plans after finishing the regular season fifth in the National Hockey League on the power play and second in penalty killing. One of them involved Wayne Simmonds taking a five minute major late in the third period.
Flyers goaltender Michal Neuvirth knows Washington well after spending eight years with the organization between 2006 and 2014.
I’ve had some pretty good luck on predictions lately so I’m doubling down on what I said here in October: The Washington Capitals will beat the Anaheim Ducks in the Stanley Cup final. We just stuck with it, stuck with it, then we got a bounce and we just kept sticking with it. We kept moving forward. But this is also uncharted territory for Trotz, who said he’s never gone into a playoff series as the prohibitive favorite, something Washington will be when it opens against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Capitals scratched D Taylor Chorney, D Mike Weber, C Michael Latta and RW Stanislav Galiev….
If this is true (the team has yet to confirm the injury), it is a huge loss for the Flyers. Shayne Gostisbehere, Scott Laughton, Evgeny Medvedev, Mike Raffl and R.J. Umberger each scored a goal for the Flyers.
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Washington finished a full 16 points clear of their nearest Eastern Conference rivals Pittsburgh, sealing their place in the playoffs well before last weekend’s final round of regular-season matches.
