Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds, who was on the ice to get an explanation from the officials as to what was going on, was yelling at fans to stop throwing the bracelets. The road team has now won all three games in the series; San Jose still leads the series, 2-1.
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The final 20 minutes were embarrassing for the Flyers. Wells Fargo Center emptied. Less two minutes into the third, Evgeny Kuznetsov put the Capitals up 3-1. 2, Washington, Johansson 1 (J.Carlson, Backstrom), 4:43 (pp).
The game hit its boiling point when Pierre-Edouard Bellemare ended up checking Dmitry Orlov from behind, making the defenseman hit his head on the boards.
But the video tribute to fallen franchise chairman Snider, done with accompanying wrist band light show, had everyone in peak emotional form. And it wasn’t just a few of them. Time was 12:17. Flyers fans threw souvenir wristbands and debris at the officials, receiving a “show some class” rebuke from public address announcer Lou Nolan.
They stopped momentarily, but not for long.
Then came three more goals, with the Flyer penalty killers forced to absorb one haymaker after another from the lethal Washington power play, painfully blocking as many shots as they could despite the lost-cause nature of the game.
ABOUT THE CAPITALS: Captain Alex Ovechkin traditionally has tormented the Flyers with his scoring, but the 240-pound Russian has also lowered the boom with his physical play (11 hits). “I don’t think he would have been too happy with it”. And we have a hard time clearing them.
White was asked about the late wristband incident.
Mason said the Flyers have to find a way to put the brakes on the Caps’ lethal power play. “When you’re not disciplined, you’re going to get punished”. I just got told that’s what was going on. Fans in the city of Brotherly Love are known far and wide for such things as Booing Santa Claus and vomiting on other fans for no particular reason.
As for where this loss leaves the Flyers, players tried to remain upbeat despite the events that unfolded on the ice earlier in the evening.
But his absence-if he misses time-will be of no outcome in this series, and the Capitals will get plenty of rest while they wait for their second-round opponent.
Game 4 is in Minnesota on Wednesday night, and Game 5 will be back in Dallas on Friday night.
This team is ready and poised to make a deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
And now Washington is just one game away from its first sweep in a best-of-seven series. Win this one and go back to Washington. The Philadelphia Flyers are averaging 2.6 goals per game and are scoring on 18.9 percent of their power plays. “We’re seeing how important and how much of an impact it’s had on a couple of games”. “Just a bad goal”. His status for tonight’s Game 3 against the Penguins was unknown.
He now has six points (3 G, 3 A) through three games, with five of those points coming with the man advantage. But Quick made a big save against Logan Couture and Jake Muzzin came up with a key blocked shot before Los Angeles’ drained penalty killers were able to clear the puck.
Before the game, Kimmo Timonen recalled his greatest Flyers memory, the game he will carry with him until his final days. Steve Mason yields 3.10 goals per game.
“It’s definitely up there [among my toughest loses ever]”, Mason said after the game.
Think all those games in a row down the stretch might finally be catching up with him?
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The Capitals have scored on 3 of 8 power-play tries, while the Flyers are scoreless in seven power-play chances. “The 5-on-5 battle has been pretty good throughout the series”. The puck finally moves around on the power play, the open man gets the cross-ice feed, and instead of firing immediately, Claude Giroux’s legs are a half-stride late, delaying the shot, allowing Braden Holtby to position himself.
