Before the game, Capitals head coach Barry Trotz and several Washington players noted how hard it is to beat a team at home that is in an 0-2 hole and in “desperation mode”. The Flyers were down 3-0 in the series and 3-0 Game 4, only to come back in the game and force a Game 5.
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The Capitals led 2-1 after Alexander Ovechkin’s second-period goal, and they put the game away with four goals in the third, one of them by Ovechkin. Yet through one game, then two, and then Monday through a third, the Flyers’ talented if disintegrating power play continued to swing and miss, while its primary energy source, Giroux, was being smothered by Ovechkin in the best-player-in-the-world caucus.
The home fans turned in the third period, throwing wristbands used as part of a pregame lights show onto the ice and earning a delay of game penalty. We understand what Game 3 is going to mean to this series and what everything has happened in the last week or so. Meanwhile, with the help of Holtby, who made 31 saves, the Caps held the Flyers scoreless on five power plays.
It doesn’t take a statistician to tell you that the Philadelphia Flyers probably deserved better against the Washington Capitals in Game 2 on Saturday than a 4-1 loss.
The Capitals scored 6 unanswered goals, including going 5-9 on the power play to rout the home Flyers and drive the fans from the stands. Shots on Goal-Washington 7-7-13-27. Referees assessed the Flyers a bench-minor penalty for the behavior of their fans. He now has six points (3 G, 3 A) through three games, with five of those points coming with the man advantage.
Game 2 was somewhat better (despite the score) from Philadelphia’s standpoint.
“I think we’re starting to realize that, ” Gostisbehere said. While he was contributing some effort on the penalty-kill, he was a minus-1 through the first 40 minutes Monday.
While it would be a long road back into the series for Philadelphia, the franchise has climbed out of such a hole before.
Game 4 is Wednesday in San Jose. “I was already kicked out”, White said.
Despite the victory and 3-0 lead, the Capitals may have lost a valuable member of their defensive core.
“We are 0 for 8 but you know what, we did a lot of good things, we had a lot of scoring chances, ” Giroux said. Thirty-seven seconds into the ensuing power play, John Carlson ripped a wrist shot from the point, and it cleanly navigated its way into the net. Ovechkin joined defensemen Brooks Orpik and Dmitry Orlov in posting a team-best four hits while 14 of the Capitals’ 18 skaters notched at least one.
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And after Flyers fans were forced to watch their powerplay look like garbage all night, they made a decision to fill the ice with some of their own. His Corsi rating, which measures of possession time, has increased from 52.9 percent in the regular season, when he led Washington with 77 points, to 57.4 percent in the opening two games of the postseason.
