Not these Capitals, and certainly not against these punchless Flyers.
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Ryan White #25 of the Philadelphia Flyers celebrates with Sam Gagner #89 after scoring a second period goal in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2016 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Verizon Center on April 22, 2016 in Washington, DC.
What it means: The Capitals will face the high-flying Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round, setting up an outstanding series between two world-class talents in Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.
The Flyers went 0 for 6 on the power play to fall to 1 for 21 in the series. The Kings did tie it at 3-3 after spotting the Sharks three goals, but San Jose scored three times in the final period to close out the series in five games.
Ovechkin had an assist on Backstrom’s second-period goal that easily held against the Flyers. Once again, replays show Niskanen’s stick was on top, not under, the stick of Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds. “That’s no secret. Goalies played well for us throughout the whole series. We don’t let outside distractions get in our way”. They met in the 2009 Eastern Conference semifinals, which the Penguins won in seven games, eventually going on to win the Stanley Cup.
“It’s a different group”.
“We’ve been down a lot in games”, Alzner said. “And we did the best we could in front of him, trying to eliminate the high quality chances”. The Flyers took only 11 shots against him in Game 5 and matched that feeble total midway through the second period, and failed on a two-man edge.
After an inspiring Game 4 victory, the team was motivated by the injury of Scott Laughton and the feistiness of Brayden Schenn to go out and punch the Capitals in the mouth for at least one more game.
The power play finished 1 for 24 in the series and four for their last 41, including the regular season. Each team had one power play and weren’t able to score.
Overall, it was a disgusting and embarrassing game for the Flyers, and not the way Philadelphia wants to be remembered.
Hakstol routinely credited the pressure Washington’s penalty killers put on the puck.
“I think it’s just execution on our part”, Simmonds said. “You see all these (saves) that he makes, he sees everything”. Unfortunately Neuvirth stood tall against every shot in the final frame and his team kept the rebound chances to a minimum. “I don’t think I could have stopped it”. After chatting over the red line the two wingers squared up and settled the Capitals’ beef regarding a unsafe cross check in Game 4. He responded with two fantastic outings, highlighted by his 44-save effort in Game 5’s shutout win.
He was pulled after 28 saves with 1:30 left in the game for an extra skater. He even joked the Flyers could have saved on their travel budget and not sent scouts to take notes.
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After going 3-0 down in three games, Philadelphia unexpectedly won Game 4, with Neuvirth playing his first playoff game as a Flyer. Whatever you decide is an appropriate description for the second round series between these two teams, the potential exists for any prediction to fall short of just how hard they will battle to advance.
