The Washington Capitals’ last breath in their 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers faded inside another scrum, with forward Tom Wilson taking blows in the center, wondering what he had done wrong. With goaltender Braden Holtby pulled, the puck inside their offensive zone, Wilson committed his team’s first minor penalty Sunday afternoon, a boarding and roughing with 1 minutes, 13 seconds left. Punches were thrown. Chests puffed out. And in the end, another three-game winning streak was snuffed before it reached four.
Waffling between the desire to mine Sunday afternoon’s 3-1 clunker of a loss to the Philadelphia Flyers for teaching moments and to chuck the fresh memories into a landfill, the Washington Capitals gathered inside their locker room and quickly began the postmortem. They had wobbled through three periods of stagnant offense with a season-low 14 shots on goal. Their power play, ranked first in the Eastern Conference and deployed six times, had flat-lined. They found no shortage of descriptors for the 60-minute eyesore at Verizon Center.
Less than a minute after Wilson stepped into the box, joined by Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds for retaliating, Jakub Voracek waltzed an empty-net goal into the crease, the final blow in one of Washington’s clunkiest losses this season. Their offense had flat-lined, recording a season-low 14 shots on goal, fewest in almost four years. The power play, ranked first in the Eastern Conference and deployed six times, had been neutered on five. Hosting a Flyers team already clinging to the cliff’s edge of its postseason hopes, the Capitals saw the chance to push them off and instead walked away.
“A stinker,” defenseman Karl Alzner said.
As they entered the opening intermission, the Capitals were best-served stuffing the memories of a scoreless first period into a safe, padlocking the door and sinking it into the deep ocean. They lasted almost 12 minutes without attempting any shot — on goal, missed or blocked. They wobbled through two power plays without testing goaltender Steve Mason, against the NHL’s third-worst penalty kill. They watched a top-four defenseman record only the seventh fighting major of his career, then ice his fists after the bout.
“Sad to have the lack of execution,” forward Brooks Laich said.
After a listless first power play from forward Ryan White’s cross-checking, the Flyers were whistled for too many men on the ice, right before the first television timeout. Even with freshly scraped ice, though, forward Alex Ovechkin flubbed a one-timer attempt and Washington needed Holtby to deny Sean Couturier’s shorthanded attempt.
“Un-Capital,” Coach Barry Trotz said. “That was a good example of how not to play.”
The matinee received a jolt midway through the first, when Flyers forward Scott Laughton shed his gloves and challenged defenseman Matt Niskanen, immediate retribution for a clean, booming, open-ice hit from their last meeting, a 1-0 Capitals’ win on Jan. 14. The check concussed Laughton and sidelined him for three weeks, so his best determined course of revenge was risking more blows to the head.
The statistics laid bare before them, the Capitals had little choice but to face the futility. They produced the franchise’s fewest shots on goal since March 18, 2011. They were neutered on five of those six power plays, much to the delight of the orange sweaters that peppered the stands.
As they rose together from the ice, Laughton thanked Niskanen for fighting. Niskanen nodded, then retreated into the penalty box and plopped a bag of ice onto his knuckles, because most punches had connected with Laughton’s helmet. The applause continued at 11 minutes, 57 seconds, more sarcastic this time, when the Capitals finally mustered their first shot attempt, a harmless, dying backhander from center Nicklas Backstrom that settled into Mason’s belly.
With goaltender Braden Holtby pulled at the two-minute mark, forward Tom Wilson committed a boarding penalty inside the offensive zone, leading to forward Jakub Voracek’s empty-netter and handing Washington its first multi-goal defeat since before Christmas. And for the sixth time this season, the Capitals failed to extend a three-game winning streak to four.
Fifty seconds into the middle period, the Flyers struck first. A point blast from defenseman Mark Streit, aimed toward two trafficking teammates stationed behind each other, instead knuckled through the lane. Holtby sprung up onto his toes but, like a changeup, watched it sink underneath his arm, just the third goal he had allowed in five starts.
“I didn’t like our execution,” Trotz said. “There wasn’t enough urgency in our dressing room tonight. Very disappointing.”
Another minor penalty charged to White, this time for interference, dovetailed into another poor Washington power play, marked by Green’s telegraphed giveaway that gifted Philadelphia a shorthanded chance. But halfway through the period, two more whistles and a fortunately timed injury helped the Capitals find their equalizer.
Hosting a Flyers team already clinging to the cliff’s edge of its postseason hopes, the Capitals saw the chance to boot their Metropolitan Division rivals into the dust. Instead, they went more than 12 minutes without attempting any shot — on goal, missed or blocked. Through two first-period power plays, gifted from Ryan White’s cross-checking and a too-many-men minor on Philadelphia’s bench, Washington instead allowed more shorthanded shots (1) than it produced with the man advantage (0).
With Max Read already shelved for interfering defenseman Brooks Orpik, Mason suddenly hobbled toward the bench and draped his arms over the shoulders of two trainers, who carried him into the locker room. Among the NHL’s hottest netminders recently, with a .959 save percentage over his past seven outings and pitching a shutout against only eight Washington shots Sunday, Mason was replaced by backup Ray Emery and did not return with a lower-body injury.
The matinee received a jolt midway through the first period, when Flyers forward Scott Laughton shed his gloves and challenged defenseman Matt Niskanen, retribution for a clean, booming, open-ice hit from their last meeting, a 1-0 Capitals win on Jan. 14. The check concussed Laughton and sidelined him for three weeks, so his best determined course of revenge was risking more blows to the head.
Opposing Holtby for the first time since they fought during a Capitals’ blowout in November 2013, Emery received no favors when Michael Del Dozzo whacked Evgeny Kuznetsov in the face, 40 seconds after Read entered the penalty box. One-hundred seconds of five-on-three passed without consequence, Verizon Center grew increasingly agitated at Washington’s stalled power play, but the hosts finally broke through once Read was released.
The applause for the bout was more sarcastic at 11 minutes, 57 seconds, when the Capitals finally mustered their first shot attempt, a harmless, dying backhander from center Nicklas Backstrom that settled into Mason’s belly.
Alone in his favorite spot, Ovechkin gathered Kuznetov’s spin-and-fire pass from the opposite corner. He gathered the puck, slid forward, stared down Emery and thrashed a shot that rattled off two metal pipes before hitting the net. His 33rd goal of the season both tied Ovechkin for the league lead and knotted the game at 1-1.
Fifty seconds into the middle period, the Flyers struck. A point blast from defenseman Mark Streit, aimed toward two trafficking teammates stationed behind each other, instead knuckled through the lane. Holtby sprang up onto his toes but watched it sink underneath his arm, just the third goal he had allowed in five starts.
As both sides chirped across the benches, Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds yanked the lead back in his team’s favor. Less than five minutes into the third, he whistled an on-the-rush shot underneath Holtby’s glove. Washington’s offensive woes, meanwhile, continued, facing Emery for more than 12 minutes before finally sending an even-strength shot on goal his way.
Washington answered midway through the second. With Max Read already shelved for interfering with defenseman Brooks Orpik, Mason suddenly exited the ice during a television timeout with a lower-body injury and would not return. Backup Ray Emery stretched and entered. The Capitals smelled blood.
A sixth power play, earned when defenseman Andrew MacDonald hauled down Ovechkin, again produced little more than frustrated groans. Soon, once Holtby fled his post at the two-minute mark, Wilson committed his boarding penalty. The end had mercifully come.
“A good opportunity for us to pepper him,” Alzner said. “We just didn’t do it. It just wasn’t a good game for us, and it’s a shame.”
One-hundred seconds of five-on-three, created when Michael Del Zotto whacked Evgeny Kuznetsov in the face for a high-stick, passed without consequence, but the Capitals finally broke through once Read released. Alone in his favorite spot, Ovechkin gathered Kuznetov’s spin-and-fire pass from the opposite corner, slid forward, stared down Emery and thrashed a shot that rattled off two metal pipes before hitting the net. His 33rd goal of the season tied Ovechkin for the league lead and knotted the game at 1.
Less than five minutes into the third, though, Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds yanked the lead back in his team’s favor, whistling an on-the-rush shot underneath Holtby’s glove that the goaltender later lamented he read wrong.
Washington’s offensive woes, meanwhile, continued, facing Emery for more than 12 minutes before finally sending an even-strength shot on goal his way. A sixth power play, earned when defenseman Andrew MacDonald hauled down Ovechkin, again produced little more than frustrated groans. Soon, Holtby fled his post, Wilson committed his penalty and the end had mercifully come. Now, the dissection could begin.
“We knew their playoff lives were on the line,” Laich said. “We knew that. We were prepared for that. And it’s sad to have the lack of execution, [and] come out on the losing side.”
