The Broad Street Blog

If you’re going to do something, do it in style. The Flyers have really taken that to heart this season, and this first round series was no different. After blowing a lead in the third period of game one, the Flyers came back and won the next three, only to blow that lead and have the series tied after 6 games. After the Washington win last night in game 6, many thought that the Flyers were finished and the Capitals had all the momentum they needed to win the game tonight and move on to play Pittsburgh in round 2.

The Flyers came out and looked like the team that won games 2, 3, and 4. They weren’t flat-footed like they were in the second half of last night’s game. But they decided to make it hard on themselves by taking two penalties and giving Washington an early 5 - 3 power play. The Capitals would take advantage as Nicklas Backstrom would get his 4th goal of the playoffs.

The Flyers would come back and even it up with Scottie Upshall’s first of the playoffs. Upshall took the shot on Huet and the puck squeaked through the 5 hole. Kimmo Timonen and Mike Richards had the assists on the goal. At the end of the first period, the Flyers had 2 full minutes of 5 - 3 power play time, but were unable to convert. Christobal Huet made several great saves to keep the score tied at one at the end of the period.

The second period would see the two teams exchange a goal each. Sami Kapanen got his second of the playoffs to put the Flyers up by one. Kapanen had an open net to shoot at after the Flyers’ Patrick Thoresen and the Capitals’ Shaone Morrisonn went hard to the net and Morrisonn ran over Huet.

A Philadelphia miscue at the end of a Washington power play left Alexander Ovechkin wide open with the puck in the Flyers end of the ice. He made no mistake and fired the puck behind Martin Biron. The second period ended just like the first, with a tie score.

The third period was all Washington. They put the pressure on the Flyers and were relentless in their attack. The Flyers were outshot in that period 16 - 5. It was Martin Biron that held the Washington attack at bay. This period would also end with the score tied.

This meant moving to overtime, and the next goal would decide who moved on to the second round. After a pathetic third period by the Flyers, they played in the overtime like they actually wanted to win.

With the game so tight, the officials pretty much put the whistles away starting in the third period. They were going to let the players decide the game and it seemed that it would take a very flagrant infraction for a penalty to be called. With that being the situation, the Capitals started taking liberties, realizing they were probably not going to be called for a penalty.

This continued to escalate into the overtime. Sami Kapanen was clearly tripped coming out of the Flyers zone, by this was ignored by the officials. However, the Capitals would go to that well again, and this time would be called for a penalty. Tom Poti obviously tripped RJ Umberger in the neutral zone and the Flyers got a power play as a result.

So far in the playoffs Joffrey Lupul had yet to score a goal, but his first one was huge. As the power play was coming to an end, Lupul took the rebound from Kimmo Timonen’s shot and buried it behind Huet to win the game for the Flyers. Timonen and Danny Briere got the assists. For Briere the assist was league leading 11th playoff point.

Next up is Montreal, who won all 4 games against the Flyers this year. Prior to tonight’s game, Flyers goaltender Martin Biron was 0-5 in the second start in back-to-back nights after playing in the first game during the regular season. The Flyers had an all-time record of 6-6 in game 7’s. In 1988, the Capitals came back from from 3-1 to beat the Flyers in game 7.

Highlights


Game Summary
Box Score

Tags:   briere · Capitals · Flyers · Kapanen · Lupul · Ovechkin · Richards · UpshallNo Comments