The Broad Street Blog

On a night when the Flyers honored and inducted Ron Hextall, one of the most beloved to ever wear the Orange and Black, into the Flyers Hall of Fame, the current roster of Flyers came up a goal short against the Washington Capitals. Alexander Ovechkin, who in my opinion is the best player in the NHL at the moment, scored his league leading 46th goal of the year, which was also the game winner. This was also Ovechkin’s 12 goal in 12 games against the Flyers.

Mike Knuble, Sami Kapanen, and Randy Jones scored for the Flyers. With the goal, Jones showed off some nice stick handling moves as well as a wicked backhand shot that put the puck high over Capitals goaltender Olaf Kolzig.

This game was also not without controversy. A goal by Scott Hartnell was disallowed for several speculative reasons at first. As Hartnell charged the net, the net became dislodged, Kolzig fell into the net, and the referee behind the net lost sight of the puck. Upon further review, Kolzig did not have control of the puck, the puck crossed the goal line before the net was fully dislodged and the whistle blew and Hartnell was pushed into Kolzig. The ultimate decision to disallow the goal had to do with Hartnell running into Kolzig. The replay clearly showed Hartnell being pushed by two Capitals players into Kolzig. This was a poor call by the officials and “The War Room in Toronto” and was a factor in the final outcome of the game.

Scottie Upshall left the game with what appears to be a high ankle sprain and will be evaluated later today.

Tags:   Capitals · Flyers · Hartnell · Hextall · Kapanen · Knuble · Kolzig · OvechkinNo Comments