Written by Chris Peters at CBSSports.com
The Philadelphia Flyers picked up two big points in the standings by earning a 2-1 shootout win over the Washington Capitals. Despite the low score line, these two potential playoff combatants put together an extremely competitive, compelling game. Perhaps we’ll see more of the same in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The two teams were both held off the scoreboard in the first two periods before Alex Ovechkin scored his 44th goal of the season just 1:28 into the third period. The Flyers couldn’t seem to solve Braden Holtby, who is chasing Martin Brodeur’s single-season wins record.
Finally, with 5:28 to go in regulation, Claude Giroux sent a hopeful shot towards the net andBrayden Schenn was there for a perfect deflection up and over Holtby to tie the game.
There were more tense moments throught the game, including an overtime penalty kill for the Flyers after Wayne Simmonds was whistled for tripping. They got the kill and survived a few scares along the way to force the game into a shootout.
Led by goaltender Steve Mason and both of Philadelphia’s first two shooters — Nick Cousins and Sam Gagner — scoring on Holtby, the Flyers nabbed the extra point to create a little breathing room in the playoff race.
Here are three things to know about Wednesday’s big win for the Flyers.
1. If these teams end up playing each other in the playoffs, it could be a brutal series
Wednesday night’s game was mostly officiated like a playoff game. A lot was let go through the first two periods and some stuff was just plain missed, but these two teams were engaged in a physical, tense affair. Things got chippy between these two teams and the officiating tightened up just a little bit late in the game. Still, this was not your run-of-the-mill regular-season game.
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