Capital Punishment
There was plenty to celebrate for Washington Saturday night, as they scored a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Philadelphia Flyers (3) vs Washington Capitals (5).......
The Flyers went into Washington hoping to deliver some not so brotherly love but it was Washington who grounded the Flyers as they Capitalized three times with the extra man on seven chances.
Washington opened the scoring on the powerplay as Brent Burns scored the first of his three (18,19,20) on the night at the 5:51 mark. Brandon Saad (14) would pull the Flyers even just over a minute later but Mike Green would fire a slapper from the blueline that Crawford never saw through the traffic. The period would end that way as the Flyers out shot Washington 14-7 but trailer 2-1.
There was plenty to celebrate for Washington Saturday night, as they scored a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Philadelphia Flyers (3) vs Washington Capitals (5).......
The Flyers went into Washington hoping to deliver some not so brotherly love but it was Washington who grounded the Flyers as they Capitalized three times with the extra man on seven chances.
Washington opened the scoring on the powerplay as Brent Burns scored the first of his three (18,19,20) on the night at the 5:51 mark. Brandon Saad (14) would pull the Flyers even just over a minute later but Mike Green would fire a slapper from the blueline that Crawford never saw through the traffic. The period would end that way as the Flyers out shot Washington 14-7 but trailer 2-1.
Ryan Getzlaf scored his 16th of the season to open the scoring in the second on the powerplay but two goals in a span of sixty-eight seconds, both with the extra skater put Washington up by a pair. Jason Garrison would cut that lead in half with his 11th of the year with just 1:21 remaining in the middle frame.
The Caps lead by one through the first seventeen minutes of the third as they would fire eleven shots at Corey Crawford. Brent Burns with his hat-trick goal at the 17:00 mark however would be the proverbial "nail in the coffin" as the Flyers were concerned. The Caps would skate off with a 5-3 decision.
Mike Smith made 24 saves to win his 22nd game of the season, while at the other end, Crawford stopped 30 pucks and saw his record fall to 11-10-2.
MOLSON'S 3 STARS:
1 - Brent Burns (Was)........ 3 goals, 1 assist, 5 shots.
2 - Mike Green (Was)......... 1 goal, 2 assists, +1, 5 shots
3 - Jordan Eberle (Was)...... 1 goal, 1 assist, 8 shots
Honorable Mention:
Jason Garrison (PHI)........... 1 goal, +1, 5 shots
GAME GOAT:
The entire Flyers penalty killing unit. The Flyers allowed 3 goals on seven powerplay chances by the Caps.
The Flyers will hope to get back on the winning track on Sunday as they travel to Columbus to take on Claude Giroux and the rest of the Bluejackets. Then it's back home to host the Lightning on Tuesday who are just 1-4 in their last five games. Then on Thursday they will host the Bruins and Alex Semin, who leads his team in scoring with 21 goals and 42 points.
Washington will host the Senators on Sunday. The Sens saw their 4 game win streak stopped on Saturday night by rival Toronto. On Tuesday the Caps travel to Anaheim to play the reigning WCHL Champions, Thursday the Caps play in the Canadian capital against the Sens and Corey Perry with his 62 points.
Reporting For the WCHL...........
Peter Puck
