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The Washington Capitals are now in first place in the Southeast Division of the NHL! They got there by beating the Philadelphia Flyers. Thanks Philly. It wasn't easy though. Some of the stats make it look like the Capitals dominated the game. But, the final score tells the scary truth. This was also the game that Philadelphia chose to officially induct former goalie Ron Hextall into the Flyers Hall Of Fame. I'm not sure why they waited so long.
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For a few seconds within the first minute of the game, Washington's Tom Poti didn't look like the dominating defensive force he had been the night before. He got a bit of a surprise when he skated over to check Flyers' Jeff Carter as he was collecting the puck at the end wall behind the net. Carter saw him coming and nocked him on his ass. Poti would not be so casual in the remainder of the game. Once again, we had a game where it became obvious early on that it would be played in rough and tumble mode. Donald Brashear spent a fair amount of his playing time gently (?) reminding the Fly Boys that he would be around if any punishment was to be handed out. The Cap's killed a bogus Brashear high sticking penalty, while Philadelphia only managed one shot. This happened a couple times in the first period, and the fans booed in disapproval, as the Flys are usually one of the best power play teams in the league this season.
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Early in the second period, we had a little 4 on 4 play. Philadelphia's Jim Vandermeer gave Alexander Ovechkin a shove after the Cap's were whistled offside. Alex took exception to this, and shoved back. Both players got two minutes to cool down. Then, Mike Green passed the puck to Brooks Laich from the blue line as he headed up the ice. Laich went straight to the net and backhanded the puck past Flyers' goalie Martin Biron. The Capitals lead the league in 4 on 4 goals with 10. Somehow, Biron's stick was broken, and he spent a few minutes playing with just the bottom half. He didn't have any problem stopping shots while waiting for a stop in play. Meanwhile, Washington's netminder Olie Kolzig was only facing half as many shots. But, he had to make some difficult saves from time to time. One such save involved him diving back toward the net to cover up the puck, after a shot went wide of the right side of the net, bounced off the end wall, and ended up on the doorstep at the other side. Then, the Caps' Quintin Laing was called for interference when he was shoved into Biron. Shortly after, Mike Knuble got the PP goal. The period ended tied at 1-1.
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Things got a little crazy in the third. Let's just say it's a good thing some Cap's players, in addition to Ovechkin, started to remember how to score during the previous game. About two minutes in, Matt Bradley deflected a Mike Green shot into the net, putting Washington back in the lead. About a minute later, Poti was able to keep the puck from leaving the offensive zone. The Flyers' defenders were caught out of position, while Poti got the puck to Tomas Fleischmann, who passed it to Viktor Kozlov. Kozzy easily scored his 11th goal of the season. It seemed like a good sign, because the Cap's always win when Viktor scores a goal. The booing returned at this point. At 7:45, Ovechkin scored his 46th goal of the season. This put Washington ahead 4-1. The Fly's fans were now too stunned to even boo anymore. It looked like it was time for Philadelphia to raise the white flag and surrender, right? But,.............Yeah, you know you don't want a "but" at this point. Here it comes anyway. But then, the Flyers got motivated. The next Flyers' "goal" was waived off during play, and officially denied after video review. It was rightfully decided that Scott Hartnell pushed Olie into the net after he had the puck stopped, therefore before the puck went in. The Flyers then got goals from Sami Kapanen and later Randy Jones, with Biron off the ice for the extra skater. But,.........And this is a good "but". But, the Capitals were able to keep Philadelphia from evening it up.
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The first team the Cap's faced with Bruce Boudreau as head coach was the Philadelphia Flyers. Washington was at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, even with an OT win that day - November 23, 2007. After beating that same team last night, the Capitals are now in sole possession of first place in the Southeast Division. What a wild ride. No time to relax, though. There's more work to do, yet.
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All Photos - Jim McIsaac / Getty Images
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