Flyers lose to Caps but get a point in 7th straight game
Caps’ goalie Holtby makes 30 saves, outduels Hart in shootout »
PHILADELPHIA >> It might be early in the season, but the Flyers have reason to feel a little weary these days. With a first-period wakeup call by a very sharp Carter Hart, the Flyers came alive and played well enough Wednesday night to get into overtime against a typically hot Washington Capitals team that hadn’t lost in regulation in its prior 12 games (10-0-2).
Once there, an overtime session dominated by the home team failed to produce a wouldbe winning goal past Caps goalie Braden Holtby, and instead a successful shootout score by Evgeny Kuznetsov sent the Metropolitan Division-leading Capitals to a 2-1 victory.
Remarkably, it was the Flyers’ third consecutive game that went to a shootout and their fifth shootout experience in their last seven outings.
Even more remarkably, it was only their second shootout loss out of those five. That they’ve gained points in seven straight games, however, isn’t lost on a team that’s starting to believe in itself.
“We were slow moving in the first (period) and they were off to the races,” Flyers defenseman and longtime Capitals defender Matt Niskanen said. “They won more races than we had, they got more loose pucks.”
As for Hart, who wound up making 35 saves through regulation and OT, Niskanen said, “He was probably our best player in the game. He gave us a chance to make a push in the second and we were better.”
Shuffling lines like mad, the Flyers were way better, but that only got them a point for making it to extra time again. So why has that happened so often of late?
“I don’t know,” Niskanen said. “I don’t think I’ve been on (a team) that went through this many in a row. Pretty tight hockey games. I don’t know what’s the cause of it but I know we’ve played four pretty dang good teams in a row here and we’ve been real competitive in all of them.
“We had stretches where we’ve done really well and we’ve had stretches where we’ve hung on. So maybe that’s part of it, that we’ve played four really good teams in a row and we’ve done really well.”
Jake Voracek, who had a pretty assist on Claude Giroux’s goal, but also missed a big chunk of empty net on his shootout attempt, went along with the theory that the Flyers’ run of tough and tight games of late had more to do with their many overtimes than anything else.
In their last seven games, the Flyers had a shootout win over New Jersey, a shootout loss to Toronto, a regulation win over Carolina, an OT win over Montreal, shootout wins in both Toronto and Boston and now a shootout loss to the Capitals.
That’s quite a run.
“I think it’s that we’ve played a lot of top teams the last few games and obviously every game is really hard,” Voracek said. “But we’ve been pretty good in shootouts and overtimes so far this year. Obviously it’s better to win it in regulation but if that’s what it’s going to take, we have to take it.”