Flyers Fall in DC: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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The Philadelphia Flyers (25-21-11) exited the Olympic break with a performance that resembled many of their pre-Olympic games in January. In a 3-2 road loss the Washington Capitals. Washington’s defensemen figured heavily in both of Washington’s non-empty net goals.

After a scoreless first period, Rasmus Sandin (3rd) put the Capitals ahead in the middle stages of the second period. Noah Cates (13th) tied the game early in the third period. Unfortunately, Trevor Van Riemsdyk (2nd) later put Washington ahead to stay in the final six minutes. Aliaksei Protas (20th) added a shorthanded empty net goal to ice the victory.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from Wednesday’s match.

The Good

Dan Vladar (26 saves) deserved a better fate. He gave his club every chance to win. The team in front of him did not provide sufficient support.
Philly played a generally strong first period. Unfortunately, they came up empty.
The Flyers had two forwards in front of the net — Cates and Matvei Michkov — on the tying goal early in the third period.
The Cates goal represented a desperately needed goal from a Flyers’ center. Those were few and far between heading into the break.
Jamie Drysdale put in extra effort to block three Washington empty-net attempts late in the third period.
The line of Bobby Brink, Noah Cates, and Matvei Michkov skated with good energy and created some chances.

The bad

Apart from the Cates goal, the Flyers didn’t generate nearly enough traffic to the net. Logan Thompson saw most of the shots cleanly.
The Flyers had 15 shots get blocked and missed the net on 10 others. Apart from delivering a deflection-friendly puck to the net early in the third period, Travis Sanheim had all four of his other shot attempts get blocked.
The Flyers had several potential odd-man scoring chances fizzle out because the puck carrier slowed to a glide and/or forced a bad pass that got picked off.
The Capitals were clearly the better team after the first period. In particular, they had a strong response after the Cates goal. The Flyers needed to elevate their own games and failed to do it except for a play here or there.

The Ugly

Here’s the real killer (again): blown coverages, a bad line change and a back door goal.
Missed nets on open looks at the net. Passes that went awry when a play needed to be made.
Lost faceoff in the die-or-die 6-on-4 power play late in the third period.
A couple of unforced turnovers proved costly.