The Broad Street Blog

After Friday’s Game 1 collapse by the Flyers, they learned a valuable lesson, that they could easily slip back into the bad habits that caused them to lose 10 straight games earlier this year. Hockey is a 60 minute game, and playing anything less will spell loss.

Coming into today’s game, everyone was expecting the Capitals to start the game strong after coming back from two goals down on Friday, and they did. The Flyers were able to stand up against the Washington attack and Martin Biron stood tall in goal.

About 6 minutes into the first period, Braydon Coburn sent RJ Umberger breaking in on Washington goaltender Christobal Huet with a great outlet pass. Umberger roofed the puck over Huet to put the Flyers up by one. Until then Washington was putting on all the pressure on the Flyers. This goal swung the momentum of the game.

Later in the first period, Mike Knuble and Jeff Carter charged into the Washington end of the ice. Huet made the save on Knuble’s shot, but would not be able to stop Carter’s shot. You could tell this goal sucked the life out of the Capitals and their fans. It would be all the Flyers would need to win the game.

The Flyers shut down the Capitals offensively, who were only able to collect 24 shots in comparison to the Flyers’ 41. Philadelphia prevented Washington from getting anything started by clogging up the neutral zone.

Alexander Ovechkin was a minus 2 for the game and was limited to only 5 shots. This was mainly due to Mike Richards’ and Jeff Carter’s great defensive play against him as well as the Flyers eliminating his linemates. The Capitals’ frustration by Philadelphia’s suffocating defense was obvious by the end of the game.

When the Capitals were able to break through the Flyers defense, Martin Biron was there to stop them and played solid all game. The spectacular play by the entire team today earned Biron his first career playoff win and first career playoff shutout.

The Flyers cannot sit back and celebrate this win for too long. There is no doubt the Capitals will be looking to give it back to the Flyers in Game 3 on Tuesday night.

Highlights
Game Summary
Box Score

Tags:   Capitals · Carter · Flyers · Huet · Knuble · Ovechkin · Richards · UmbergerNo Comments