Washington defenseman John Carlson tangled with Laughton behind the Capitals’ net. He was taken to Jefferson Hospital as a precaution, and as of now we are unsure of his prognosis.
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“Obviously, when their power play is scoring and ours isn’t, a little bit of frustration creeps in”, Brayden Schenn said Wednesday night, after the Flyers’ 2-1 postseason-extending victory over the Washington Capitals.
The team later announced Laughton would remain hospitalized overnight for “precautionary reasons” and that all tests came back negative.
While the power play at least provided a goal, the Flyers’ penalty-killing, which had surrendered eight goals in 17 chances through the first three games, was an effective 2-for-2 Wednesday, when Hakstol ordered a more aggressive approach, particularly out front, on the point. He continued to needle shooters in practice, taunting them by showing pucks that he gloved or hollering at fellow Flyers for failing to put back rebounds.
Shayne Gostisbehere’s goal 5:51 into the game might not have been unexpected for a team desperate to stave off elimination in their own building. The Flyers eventually brought out the stretcher and wheeled him off the ice late in the first period. It’s just one of those plays where we’re kind of even and he tries to stick-handle through me and take it to the net. After three games of wild west hockey, the Flyers finally figured out that the best way to beat the Washington Capitals was to not beat themselves. Neuvirth was sensational in the third after T.J. Oshie scored early in the period to make it 2-1.
Despite the lack of scoring, Philadelphia isn’t dwelling on games past or those beyond Friday.
“Unbelievable”, Simmonds said of Neuvirth’s performance. “I’m just trying to defend him”. “We made it harder for them to block shots and our forwards did aa good job of boxing those guys out and getting to the blue paint and getting in Holtby’s eyes, and…”
“You don’t like to see a player go down like that, especially when he wasn’t moving and we weren’t too sure what was going on”, Giroux said.
The Flyers stayed out of the box until 5:29 left in the second period when Sam Gagner was whistled for interference.
Neuvirth had come to Philadelphia as a free agent, signing for two years and $3.25 million last July 1.
“I was just finding my rhythm”, Neuvirth said. Winning in Washington will be a tall task against these Capitals, but that conversation is best served for tomorrow. For now, let’s take it one game at a time and give the Capitals 110% on Friday, they’re going to need to give it all they have and then some. On Monday, the Caps went a staggering 5-for-9 on the power play after going 2-for-2 in DC last Saturday. He got hit sort of one way and guy slid underneath him. Earlier in Game 3, defenseman Brooks Orpik left the game with an upper-body injury after he made contact with the glass on a hit by Ryan White.
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The Flyers, now down 3-1 in the series, still have a long way to go to match that miracle rally against Boston in the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals. Through the chaos of repeated waves of Capital skill players, he stood tall to keep the lead intact.
