Washington rallies to beat Philadelphia: 4 reasons Caps won originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
After a slow start to the game, the Capitals dominated the Philadelphia Flyers scoring three unanswered goals in a 3-1 win on Sunday. The game was the first game in which fans were were allowed to attend in Philadelphia this year. Washington has now won five of its last six games.
Here is how the Caps won.
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Oshie's set up of Ovechkin
Through the first 30 minutes of the game, Philadelphia was clearly the better team. But when you don't take advantage of that, you leave the door open for the opposition to climb back in. The Flyers held only a 1-0 lead in the second period when T.J. Oshie worked his magic to set up Alex Ovechkin for the tying goal.
Oshie had the puck near the blue line and faked a drop-off to Dmitry Orlov. Both Oskar Lindblom and Connor Bunnaman fell for it and Oshie was able to give himself a bit more room to work with. He took it along the perimeter and sent the cross-ice pass for Ovechkin to bury.
The goal is Ovechkin's eighth of the season - though just his third in his past 12 games.
After a strong performance by the Flyers, the game was suddenly tied at 1. It was the definite turning point of the game and provided a clear momentum shift in Washington's favor.
Orlov heats up a cold power play
Heading into the game, Washington boasted a power play of 26.7% percent, good for 6th in the NHL. The power play had grown ice-cold of late, however, scoring at only 7.7% in their last five games.
A first-period opportunity provided no reason for optimism, but the team recorded a fantastic power-play goal in the second courtesy of Dmitry Orlov.
Right off the draw, the puck was pushed back to Orlov on the blue line. He handed it off to Jakub Vrana then took off for the net. The puck was returned to him by John Carlson who went from the right side of the blue line to the left side of the slot for a tap-in through the 5-hole of Flyers goalie Carter Hart.
The goal is just Orlov's second of the season and put Washington up 2-1.
Jensen's first goal as a Capital
In his 108 games with the Capitals, Nick Jensen had not recorded a single goal. He finally hit the back of the net in game No. 109 on Sunday.
Zdeno Chara did not record an assist on the play, but he should have because he set the entire play in motion.
Chara gave a two-handed shove to Joel Farabee in the neutral zone and knocked him to the ice. The Flyers took exception to the hit, but they seemed more focused on Chara than they were with the puck.
The Caps carried the puck into the offensive zone against a completely disjointed Philadelphia defense. Finally, the puck was handed off to Jensen who was alone on the right side of the ice with only Ovechkin in front of him. With no one coming to challenge him, Jensen had all the time and room in the world. Ovechkin knew it, too as he stepped aside as Jensen drove to the net. Jensen finished it off with a nice wrister to beat Hart.
Ilya Samsonov holds the fort
Samsonov was beaten 5-hole by Farabee on a 2-on-1 in the first period. A 2-on-1 is a tough situation, but it was a shot he should have had and he knew it based on his reaction. But Samsonov rebounded quite nicely in what was easily his best performance of the season.
When the Caps had little offense to speak of early, this game could have gotten ugly if not for Samsonov. His frenetic style was on full display through a few scrums in front of the net, but he kept the puck out and the score 1-0 when the Caps really needed him to. His best save came late in the third while defending a 3-1 lead as he managed to stretch out a pad to the post to deny Jakub Voracek on the doorstep.
Samsonov finished the game with 36 saves on 37 shots for a .973 save percentage.
