Flyers 6 - Capitals 4 .
The Washington Capitals faced the Philadelphia Flyers in a 1:00 PM game this afternoon with a healthier roster. Their Captain, Chris Clark returned after missing 18 games with a groin injury. Tom Poti and Brent Johnson also were among the players returning from injury. But, even with healthy players coming back, the Capitals still couldn't manage to come out ahead of the Flyers in this game.
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Washington's Alexander Semin scored just 1:22 into the game. Captain Clark knocked the puck loose from a Philadelphia defender, and Michael Nylander passed it over to Semin, who sent it in with a five hole wrister past Flyers' netminder Martin Biron. The Caps led by one, but it would be the only time they would have a lead in this game. Less than a minute later Washington's Nicklas Backstrom was called for tripping, only his sixth minor penalty of the season. At 3:08 Philadelphia's Scottie Upshall got nicked for a two handed slash over the back of Semin. Neither team was able to score during this part of the first period. But, at 8:45 Mike Knuble evened things up when he tipped in a rebound that got behind Capitals starting goaltender Olie Kolzig. Later on, with 4:31 left in the first period, Knuble got his second goal on a sharp angle shot during a Power Play compliments of a Michael Nylander holding penalty. The Flyers led 2-1, and would hold the lead for the rest of the game..
During the first intermission, Comcast SportsNet showed some highlight clips of the first period as usual. Then, they showed an early first period clip of Caps' Chris Clark as he apparently reaggravated the groin injury he had just returned from. He did play a few more minutes in the second, but he left the game early in the third period. No sense in pushing it. Hopefully, he can fully recover before the next game.
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Just over three minutes into the second period, Washington's Matt Bradley and Philadelphia's Jason Smith got into a fight over Bradley's hit on Sami Kapanen. They both got 5 minute fighting majors. Smith also got 2:00 for instigating and then 10:00 for game misconduct, as he somehow felt the need to argue his losing case with the referee. A couple minutes later, the Flyer's Jim Dowd tipped in his team's third goal, putting the Flyers ahead by two. Just 59 seconds later, Philadelphia's R. J. Umberger scored with a slapshot that deflected in off of the Capitals' Milan Jurcina. At this point, Washington's Brent Johnson replaced a very upset Olie Kolzig in net.
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The change seemed to motivate the Capitals. Less than 30 seconds later, Mike Green's slapshot went past Biron to bring the Caps back within two. The credit for scoring the goal may eventually be changed, as the puck seemed to deflect off of at least one other Cap. At 11:50, Washington's "124 Million Dollar Man", Alexander Ovechkin scored his 33rd goal of the season via slapshot. There was a good bit of rough stuff going on with about seven minutes left in the period. Washington's John Erskine and Donald Brashear were in the Capitals' penalty box, while Philadelphia's Riley Cote and Jim Dowd kept each other company in the other box. The period ended Flyers 4 - Caps 3..
Both goalies got a bit of a workout in the third, as play continued to be very brisk. The refs seemed to be tired of blowing their whistles. Quite a few things went uncalled. But then, that's pretty typical of this season, so far. At 8:23, Mike Richards' backhander got past Johnson for his 20th of the season. Ultimately, that would be enough for the Flyers to win. On the bright side, Michael Nylander got his 200th career goal later in the period. But, with Johnson off the ice for the extra Washington skater and just 37 seconds left, Kimmo Timonen got an unassisted empty netter.
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Before they left the ice, Ovechkin and Richards had what looked like a few heated words. But, as Craig Laughlin suggested, those words were probably something like..."I'll see you at the All Star game. Yeah, ...right. I'm sure that was it. Not the way we Caps' fans wanted this game to end. But, without some brilliant saves by Brent Johnson in relief, it could have been even worse.
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All Photos - AP / Manuel Balce Ceneta
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