Flyers vs. Caps: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

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Rick Tocchet’s Philadelphia Flyers (37-25-12) spent most of Tuesday’s game in comeback mode against the Washington Capitals (38-28-9). The road team battled hard. They erased a 2-0 deficit. Later, they battled back to the brink of drawing even again after the Caps surged away by scores of 4-2 and 5-3. Ultimately, a Washington empty-net goal finished off a 6-4 outcome.

In a losing cause, Travis Sanheim (1g, 1a), Christian Dvorak (1g, 1a), Denver Barkey (1g) and Carl Grundstrom (1g) scored for Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Alex Ovechkin (2g), Tom Wilson (2g), Pierre-Luc Dubois (4a), Jakub Chychrun (1g, 2a), and Ryan Leonard (1g, 1a) all had multi-point games for the Capitals.

The Good

Porter Martone (five shots, several scoring opportunities) played a generally solid NHL debut. He skated 22 shifts (16:53 TOI). The 19-year-old saw first-unit power play duty in his debut. Side note: No longer wearing the bird cage he had in college, the rookie also lost a tooth in his first game in the show.
Rasmus Ristolainen played his second straight outstanding — not just good — game in a crucial stretch drive match. The combo of Ristolainen (25:01 TOI) and Sanheim (22:59) delivered what Philly needed from their top defense pair. Ristolainen was good with and without the puck. He was physical (four hits). The big Finn produced four credited hits. He blocked an Ovechkin one-timer, which broke the defenseman’s stick. Ristolainen also produced a timely assist on Barkey’s goal.
The Flyers get full marks for their characteristic resiliency. They never felt out of the game.
Despite a 2-0 deficit at intermission, the Flyers out skated and out possessed Washington in the first period. The Caps came out hitting early and often. Philly matched it, especially Sean Couturier (five hits in the opening frame).

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The bad

Good for hockey, bad for the Flyers: Playing his potential final game against the Flyers, Ovechkin notched power play and even strength goals. Philly held him fairly quiet over the first three meetings of the season series. However, it was unsurprising that Ovechkin stepped up big in this must-win game. The Russian living legend has historically dominated against Philadelphia. Tuesday’s game marked his 53rd and 54th career goals against Philly. Overall, Ovechkin has produced 86 points (32a) in 82 career regular-season games.
Dan Vladar had a rough night, both statistically and by the eye test. He made just 12 saves on 17 shots. Moreover, three of the goals he allowed were clear-sighted shots. It’s the second time in his last three starts his glove hand looked slow. There were some clutch saves along the way, too. But the Flyers needed better from their probable Bobby Clarke Trophy winner. Side note: Vladar took two pucks off his mask/neck over the course of the day and evening on Tuesday. I’d expect Samuel Ersson to start on Thursday.
Washington’s key veteran players (Wilson, Ovechkin, Dubois, Chychrun) outplayed many of Philly’s most important vets (Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Trevor Zegras, and the Cam York – Jamie Drysdale defense pairing).

The ugly

Here’s the real killer: discipline and special teams. Careless stick penalties by Konecny and Zegras turned into Washington power play goals when the Caps broke Philly’s PK diamond. The Washington power play went 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, the Flyers’ power play was 0-for-4. There were two virtual must-score power play opportunities on this night. Philly spent more time going back 200 feet for retrievals and resets than attacking. To be fair, they had a couple of good opportunities. Just not enough compared to the Washington power play. Note: Philly’s final power play spanned just the final 0.5 second of the game. So 0-for-3 is more accurate in reality. However, it was still a bad night on special teams.
Way too many turnovers. I am aware that turnover disparities (a bit like hit total disparities) are partially a reflection of which team has the puck more often. Nevertheless, the Flyers had 25 turnovers (18 charged giveaways plus seven takeaways credited to Caps’ player). By comparison, Washington had 12 turnovers (nine giveaways, three Philly takeaways). This disparity accurately reflected the inordinate poorly executed or forced passes by the Flyers.
Zegras had an awful night. On the bright side, he seemed OK after getting shaken up and going off gingerly. The negatives: two minor penalties, zero shots on goal, one bad turnover (credited as as a Caps takeaway), two preventable minor penalties, 1-for-7 on faceoffs. That’s the nature of hockey. Zegras was the overtime hero on Sunday. Two night’s later, he has a rough time. He can redeem himself on Thursday and Friday.
In a crucial game like this, the Flyers wanted to see Matvei Michkov outplay Leonard. It wasn’t all bad for Michkov. He did create some chances on Tuesday. Nevertheless, four bad turnovers by Michkov stood out negatively. Overall, Leonard made more positive impact in his modest 11:29 of ice time (2:07 on the power play) than Michkov did in his 14:09 (2:32 on the power play).
The same thing can be said for Drysdale vs. Chychrun. Philly needed a similar night from Drysdale to what the Capitals got from Chychrun. Drysdale had some tough puck luck on plays that ended up in the Flyers’ net. Even so, Drysdale turned over a few pucks. He didn’t get any of his shot attempts on net. Conversely, Chychrun was an offensive force for his side. Meanwhile, York blocked some shots but also had four giveaways and a failed clearing opportunity.
Couturier appeared to be banged up in this game after his utra-physical first period. He did finish 6-for-8 on faceoffs with a half dozen hits. The nature of Philly chasing the game and however Couturier got nicked up limited him to 19 shifts (11:02 TOI).