Flyers forward Scott Laughton was taken off the ice on a stretcher during the first period of Game 4 against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Center.
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Laughton stayed overnight in the hospital but all tests came back negative.
With about four minutes remaining in the first period Scott Laughton chased a puck down and, due to a weird combination of losing his footing and being checked off the puck, slams into the lower portion of the boards behind Braden Holtby.
Laughton lost his balance after taking the hit from Carlson, sending him crashing into the boards where the back of his head took the brunt of the impact.
“We talked about it: Let’s have some fun and enjoy the moment”. But it bought the Flyers more time to show what they never doubted their power play, and the rest of their units too, could provide.
“What I’ll say is this”, Washington captain Alex Ovechkin said.
Team officials say the behavior “cannot be condoned or tolerated”.
It’s on to a second attempt at clinching, and the Capitals know a 3-1 lead is far from safe after dropping the last three games of their conference semifinal series with the New York Rangers last season.
Neuvirth was sensational in the third period after T.J. Oshie scored early in the period to make it 2-1.
The game is a must-win for Philadelphia, which is in a 3-0 hole against the Capitals and facing elimination. After two that number was 13-6 (26-16), and the game ended with a thoroughly lopsided 17-8 (40-19).
The Wild finished the game with a 6-on-4 after a high-stick penalty on Antoine Roussel with goalie Devan Dubnyk pulled, but the Stars tightened up and allowed only one shot on target over the 84-second two-man advantage.
Philadelphia started the second with complete dominance, having four shots on goal, one wide of net, and three out of three faceoff wins, before the Capitals could even take a shot.
After getting a dominant performance from top center Anze Kopitar, more than 35 minutes of almost flawless defense from Drew Doughty, sterling goaltending from Jonathan Quick and a big hit by Dustin Brown to get back into their series, the Kings are looking for their big stars to step up again to tie this series with a fourth straight win by the road team.
“Basically just got nicked up a little bit, went off and we’ll see where he is”, Trotz said. “I feel good today, the usual”. “We were ready for them”. Marleau assisted on Joe Pavelski’s PPG and scored one of his own that would stand as the game victor.
“It was nice to get that power play early”, Schenn said, “and give us some confidence”.
Neuvirth signed a two-year, $3.25 million deal with the Flyers on July 1. “After that, I think it was a no-brainer for him”. “I was really happy with the effort tonight”.
The Sharks, who scored all three of their goals on the power play, held on for a 3-2 victory, and now lead the series 3-1.
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Michal Neuvirth, who replaced Flyers goalie Steve Mason for Game 4, made 12 of his 31 saves in the third period, including a key save in tight on a Tom Wilson rebound with 7:50 to play.
