The first period has been a problem child for these Washington Capitals during large swaths of the season, often accompanied by the predictable note that they had allowed the first goal of the game.
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It’s hard not to think that hey, if only Game 1 started the way this one did, this whole series could be different.
Tempers flared at the end of Game 3’s blowout, with the Flyers increasing the physical play leading up to a line brawl with three players sent off to the showers. He played only the final game of the regular season, before Mason was given the nod to start the first round. So it wasn’t so much that the Flyers’ power play had roared back to excellence. After the game, Dave Hakstol didn’t have any updates on Laughton’s condition.
The excitement waned and the desperation eventually kicked in. They proved that they will compete despite losing two players to upper body injuries.
It would seem nearly fate that Raffl would score the Flyers’ lone goal 57 seconds into the game.
“I was just finding my rhythm”, Neuvirth said.
That’s the next objective for the Flyers: make the series go seven games.
T.J. Oshie finally broke through for the Caps 2:38 into the third period off a rebound.
Neuvirth was key also in making 31 saves, 12 of them in the third period. “I’m not going to let him walk to the net”.
“I thought we dominated the entire third period”, Oshie said. We’ll check on him now.
But the most powerful struggle came on the power play, which features a first unit quarterbacked by Gostisbehere.
The despicable (yes, despicable) manner that Flyers fans reacted to the poor calls by the referees and were utterly angered by the results of the night. The Caps have outscored Philly 4-2 at even strength but the differential is one “simply bad” and one “nightmarishly bad” goals that Steve Mason has allowed.
For this one, the trend reversed and the special teams battle, minimal as it was, favored the Flyers. The Capitals entered Wednesday 8-for-17 with the man-advantage.
The Flyers held on to a 2-1 victory on the back of Michal Neuvirth to avoid the sweep and take the series back to the nation’s capital Friday night for a 5th game.
MacDonald gave the Flyers their first multi-goal game of the postseason when he beat Braden Holtby with a slap shot at 3:51 of the second period for his second career playoff tally.
One of Philadelphia’s top young players, Laughton, 21, had appeared in 71 games this season and returned to the lineup when center Sean Couturier sustained a shoulder injury in Game 1 that knocked him out of the series. Initial tests were negative. “We’re praying for him and hope he’s doing well”. We just told him we were here for him and this W is for him. “We’re going to keep going”.
The game was marred by a scary hit that saw Flyers center Scott Laughton leave on a stretcher.
Instead, they have a chance to finish off the series on home ice Friday night. “We’ve gotten a lot of bounces and they weren’t really going our way”.
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The Flyers announced after the game that Laughton would remain at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital overnight for “precautionary reasons”. Washington didn’t practice on Thursday, but Orpik didn’t skate with the team on Tuesday or Wednesday.
