and a whole lot more
Game Time !!!
History
The Flyers are 111-80-19 all-time against the Capitals, and 44-45-13 on Washington's home ice. This is the final game of 4 this season against the Capitals. The Flyers won the first in a shoot-out, the Capitals have taken the last two game convincingly, 5-0 & 4-1. If the Flyers do manage to play themselves into a playoff spot, they will most likely face the Capitals.
Capitals update
Flyers (30-26-7) @ Capitals (43-13-7) 7:30pm
The Capitals have the best record in the league and also lead the Metropolitan division over the Blue Jackets and Penguins by 7 points. The lead the league in goal differential at +74, are 1st in goals against, 2nd in goals for (Penguins have 11 more at 219) and power special teams are 6th in the league. They have won 3 of their last 4 games and a franchise record 14 straight at home. 6 of these 14 home wins have been shut-out wins, and 8 of them by 3 goals or more.
The only move the Capitals made at the trading deadline was to add Kevin Shattenkirk (42 points with the Blues), the best defensemen available. Odd stat, he is the only Caps rostered player that played over 30 games that does not have a double digit plus (plus/minus). Incredible really. The Capitals gave up plenty surrendering a 1st round pick, a conditional 2nd round pick and two players for Shattenkirk and goalie Pheonix Copley. Shattenkirk has been playing with Orpik. Feeling the playing time pinch will be Taylor Chorney and Nate Schmidt. Matt Niskanen leads the Caps with 34 points, John Carlson has 32, 13 on the power play. Brooks Orpik leads the defensemen with hits (147) plus/minus (32) and is second in blocks to Karl Alzner. Of the 18 Capitals regular players playing 50 or more games, he is the only one that does not have a goal.
Brayden Holtby has 33 wins in net, and has not lost a game in regulation in his last 20 (18-0-2). He has a 1.91 goals against and 8 shut-outs. His back-up Phillip Grubauer is having a nice year to at 10-5-2 with 3 shut-outs.
The offense is lead by Nicklas Backstrom with 64 points (45 assist)(24 pp pts) and Ovechkin with 54 points, 27 goals, 7 game winning goals. TJ Oshie who looks to return from missing 4 games has 25 goals and plays on the same line as Backstrom and Ovechkin.
Flyers update
Well, here is the Flyers season. 4 straight road games against division/conference foes, the last 3 games against teams they are neck and neck with for the last spot. To stay alive, they must beat 2 of the last 3, and it would be helpful to beat them in regulation. Of the remaining 19 games, they must win 13 to have a prayer, but 14 is most likely the number factoring in a couple of OT losses. 6 teams that are challenging for the last playoff spot are separated by 6 points. Of the teams wrestling for that last spot, the Flyers only play them 4 games.
At the trading deadline Flyers dealt for veteran forward Valterri Filppula who promptly scored the Flyers only goal in the Panthers win. The Flyers get a couple draft picks as well. The Flyers also got rid of Mark Streit clearing the way for Michael Del Zotto to get playing time. Filppula has 1 year left on his contract paying him 5 million.
The Flyers goaltending situation is confusing at best from a fan's perspective. Neuvirth has played better overall, Mason has played well in streaks. Neuvirth was re-signed for a couple of years while Mason is expected to be exposed in the expansion draft and if not picked up, will become a free agent. Mason has played well over the last two games stopping 72 of 73 shots earning two wins. We wait in anxious anticipation on who will start tonight.
The Flyers have gone 4 for 10 over the last couple of games on the power play, but still struggle for the even strength goals. At times they have had good possession in the offensive zone and just have not buried the biscuit as they say. The win over the Panthers was significant, but they only got 1 goal. In the previous game they jumped the Avalanche with 3 goals in the first period before winning 4-0. The Avalanche are one of the worst teams in the NHL this year.
Voracek remains the team leader in points and even strength points. Points: Voracek 52, Giroux 45, Simmonds 44, Schenn 42. Much is made of the plus/minus stat, and there is something to be said for it, but remember these guys are out at the end of the game trying to tie the game and have been on the ice for 8 empty net goals this season earning the minus.
Speaking of even strength, besides leading the team in ice time, Ivan Provorov leads the defensemen with even strength points as well with 20 of his 24 coming that way. Mark Streit is gone in the Filppula deal (he scored the game winner for the Penguins last night) and he was the Flyers 3rd leading scoring defensemen despite missing a ton of games.
Flyers keys to the game:
1.) The Flyers can't win a shoot-out, so the forwards will spend the game in shut-down mode. They must stay out of the penalty box and shut down the top two lines.
2.) The must get big saves from the goaltending, and cannot give up a soft goal.
3.) They will have to play "big". There will tons of hitting tonight with Washington at home. Ovechkin, Tom Wilson and Brooks Orpik have 400+ hits between them. Radko Gudas and Schenn will have to counter.
Lets Go Flyers!
