Neither team scored on their power plays. But Holtby also had seven of his 26 saves during the sequence, completing his second shutout of these Stanley Cup playoffs by leaving the Flyers’ shooters just as frustrated as when this series began.
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Braden Holtby’s flawless goaltending, Nicklas Backstrom’s second-period goal, and the Flyers’ inability to convert a two-minute, five-on-three power play keyed Washington’s win. “It keeps me in the game”, the 28-year-old Neuvirth said after his team was outshot by a 4-to-1 margin (44-11).
Jason Spezza scored his fourth goal of the series and added three assists, and goalie Kari Lehtonen and the Dallas Stars needed every last one of them to hold off the Minnesota Wild to wrap up the first-round series in six games.
Kane, who led the National Hockey League in scoring with 106 points, circled the net to corral his own shot that slowly slid wide, and poked it past Brian Elliott at 3:07 to send a standing-room crowd of 19,956 home unhappy. The Flyers and Caps played in a game seven back in 2008 where the Flyers won on a overtime game-winner by Joffrey Lupul. We would hate to draw conclusions about the reasons for the fight, but the Caps were unhappy with Schenn’s deliberate cross-check to the knee of Evgeny Kuznetsov in Game 4.
“They had five even-strength shots all game”, Trotz said. It was the Flyers second straight win after falling behind in the series 3-0.
Washington Capitals’ Matt Niskanen, right, checks Philadelphia Flyers’ Matt Read into the boards during the second period of Game 6 in the first round of the NHL Stanley Cup hockey playoffs, Sunday, April 24, 2016, in Philadelphia. Dazzling the crowd that on occasion once cheered his name, Neuvirth made 44 saves, the most ever by a Flyers goalie pitching a playoff shutout.
Chris VandeVelde iced it when he scored into an empty net in the final minute. Blowing a 3-0 series lead was about to be added to the ugly list of 3-1, 2-0, 2-0 and 3-1 since 2009 alone.
The Washington Capitals are seeing visions of past playoff nightmares as they have lost back to back games and now hold a slim 3-2 lead over the Philadelphia Flyers in a series that looked as though it would be done in four until Michal Neuvirth showed up and changed everything. Thanks to a fortunate call, the Flyers were in business: 5-on-3 for 1:55, and, just for kicks, 5-on-4 for 2:05 after that. We saw how this series was going. The Vezina Trophy candidate finished the series with two shutouts and allowed a total of six goals on 161 shots in the six games.
“I know, obviously, a lot of people are thinking, and they see the same uniform on the ice all the time, but it’s different people”, defenseman Karl Alzner said. He made 72 saves between Capitals goals.
As expected in a game like this, the Flyers’ goal was a messy fluke. “I think to improve we just have to follow that path”.
Neuvirth and an excellent effort by the Flyers’ penalty killers kept it there until the team finally started generating scoring chances in the final six minutes of the final period.
“We were in the box a lot”, Tom Wilson, who did not receive any infractions, said. “They played tight defensively, and when you’ve got a good chance, you’ve gotta beat Holtby”.
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“We took a step forward this year”. Then in Game 5 he was more than solid. The clubs are even heading to Game 5 in Anaheim on Saturday.
