Recap: Flyers 5, Capitals 4 (SO)

I really don't know what to make of this one. I thought the Capitals played a good first and pretty poorly thereafter, but the scoring chances show that aside from the 2nd they outchanced the Flyers 19-6.

Good games from Johansson, Fleischmann, Fehr, and Chimera tonight, I thought. Johansson was stronger on the puck than I've ever seen before and created his own shots, winning board battles. Fleischmann looked much better at wing, as he had a lesser defensive responsibility and good lurk for good shots. He got them, too, hitting three posts or so. Fehr looked good for most of the game, driving to the net hard and picking up the game-tying goal too. Chimera was just flying, as the Chimera-Johansson-Bradley line looked good.

Still, I don't think the Capitals deserved the point they got, let alone two. Bad refereeing or not, bad luck hitting the posts or not, there's no excuse to take so many minor penalties, even if the other team took almost as many. By my count it was 10. That's approaching a period's worth of play solely on the PK. That's ridiculous. If the Capitals can't fix discipline issues they'll be screwed come the playoffs, as a hot goalie + good special teams a la Montreal will beat them once again.

The Flyers didn't deserve to win, but neither did the Caps. Whatever, might as well split the points.

Man of the match: Let's give it to Marcus Johansson, though no one from either side stood out all that much, really. Green was fantastic on the penalty kill, and Richards was pretty good too. Pronger made one mistake (Johansson goal), but otherwise was solid.
Timeonice reports: Faceoffs Corsi/Fenwick Shift Charts H2H

Some observations:

• Semin hitting both the left post and the crossbar with his final shootout attempt pretty much sums up the luck the Capitals had in this game.
• The Flyers are a really good team when they try and control the tempo. When they play slowly, there is nary a chance that they give up, even if they're not producing at the other end. In that case, perhaps the Caps were better off taking a penalty. In the third, with the Flyers choking the life out of the game, a Flyers PP got the boys in orange to open up the game a bit more, which is all the Caps needed.
• The Capitals could learn a thing or two from Philadelphia about choking the life out of the game.
• Don't show the overtime penalty kill to a Green hater. His or her head might explode. Green made at least three terrific defensive plays in a roughly 20 second sequence on the later part of that kill.
• John Carlson was a +4 zone start, Karl Alzner a +5, and yet their Fenwicks were 2 and 0 respectively, Corsis -2 each. Solid game.
• Could the Alex Ovechkin struggles be in part because he no longer gets the most favorable zone starts on the team? He was an even tonight.
• Peter Laviolette really looked like he was matching lines. Funky stuff in Corsi, with Kimmo Timonen, Darrel Powe, Claude Giroux, and Sean O'Donnell getting big negative Corsis, while Mike Richards, James vanRiemsdyk, and Matt Carle equally far from zero in the positive direction.
• Both Timonen-Coburn and Carle-Pronger drew Ovechkin. It looks like Boudreau initially tried to get Ovechkin away from those two pairings, but once the Caps fell behind stopped caring, and the team is probably better off as a result. Ovechkin needs to be able to get the best of top defensive competition on a nightly basis.
• Blair Betts, Jody Shelley, and Nikolay Zherdev bring up the rear in Flyers ES TOI. Jeff Carter didn't top 10 minutes. Yikes.
• Marcus Johansson got the better of Claude Giroux tonight. Sounds like a second-line center to me.
• Laich didn't look as good at center. Covering a Flyers center requires more effort defensively than covering a winger.
• Good zone starts for Johansson, Fleischmann, Laich, Fehr, and others certainly helped their numbers.
• Caps SHTOI leaders: Schultz, Alzner, Green, Carlson, Gordon, Laich, and Johansson all topped four minutes, with the first three topping six and the next three topping 5:40. Killing all but two (technically one, but the Richards goal was right after a PK had expired) is pretty decent.

Thanks to Vic Ferrari for his great script to really help making this table. Here's the link.

Scoring Chances for NHL Game Number 20287

Team	Period	Time	Note	WSH						Opponent
WSH	1	18:10	T Johansson 2-on-1	4	10	25	30	89	90	6	19	22	33	41	48	5v5
WSH	1	16:14	T Ovechkin breakaway, post	8	19	27	28	30	74	5	6	17	28	33	36	5v5
WSH	1	15:04	ZP Fleischmann after good keep-in by Green	14	16	21	30	52	55	6	15	33	41	48	93	5v5
WSH	1	13:54	T Fleischmann tic-tac-toe, post	8	14	16	25	30	52	5	18	28	33	41		5v4
WSH	1	13:16	ZP Fleischmann deflects Backstrom one-timer, post	8	14	16	25	30	52	11	20	33	36	44		5v4
WSH	1	13:04	Fehr at side of net	8	14	16	25	30	52	11	20	33	36	44		5v4
PHI	1	12:17	ZP Chimera coughs up the puck in the slot	10	25	27	30	74	90	17	20	25	28	33	36	5v5
WSH	1	11:51	T GOAL Johansson	10	25	30	52	55	90	15	20	25	28	33	93	5v5
WSH	1	5:55	T Carlson 2-on-1	14	21	27	28	30	74	5	17	28	33	36	44	5v5
WSH	1	5:30	FO Schultz shot deflected	14	16	21	30	52	55	15	18	20	21	25	33	5v5
PHI	1	2:41	ZP Hartnell puts a rebound over the net	15	19	30	52	55		19	20	28	33	44	48	4v5
WSH	1	1:49	T Laich to Johansson	21	30	52	55	90		17	18	22	25	33	41	4v5
WSH	2	17:40	T Ovechkin breakaway	8	14	16	25	30	52	11	20	33	36	44		5v4
WSH	2	17:27	ZP Fleischmann in front	8	14	16	25	30	52	11	20	33	36	44		5v4
WSH	2	16:22	ZP Laich tries to stuff	8	19	21	28	30	52	6	18	33	36	41		5v4
WSH	2	16:00	ZP Laich tries to stuff	8	19	21	28	30	52	6	18	33	36	41		5v4
PHI	2	15:12	ZP Carter tries to jam the rebound	15	27	30	39	74		17	19	20	33	44	48	4v5
PHI	2	12:47	ZP Giroux tries to stuff	25	27	30	52	90		19	22	25	28	33	41	4v5
WSH	2	10:45	T Green to Fleischmann	8	14	16	25	30	52	6	18	28	33	41		5v4
PHI	2	9:13	T quick passing, whiff on shot attempt	4	15	26	27	30	90	6	15	18	21	33	41	5v5
PHI	2	8:30	T Giroux off turnover	8	19	28	30	55	74	5	17	28	33	36	44	5v5
PHI	2	6:47	GOAL FO Pronger shot tipped by Giroux	10	25	27	30	74	90	5	15	18	21	25	33	5v5
PHI	2	6:29	FO vanRiemsdyk shot hits post	10	25	27	30	74	90	5	15	18	21	25	33	5v5
PHI	2	4:42	ZP Carle slapshot deflected	4	14	16	21	30	52	19	22	25	33	41	48	5v5
PHI	2	3:52	ZP Richards at side of net	15	19	30	52	55		18	19	20	28	33	44	4v5
PHI	2	3:06	T Briere puts a rebound wide	21	27	30	74	90		17	20	22	33	44	48	4v5
PHI	2	2:14	ZP GOAL Richards	16	25	26	27	30	74	18	19	25	28	33	41	5v5
WSH	3	17:23	ZP Carlson shot deflected	8	14	16	25	30	74	6	11	25	33	36		5v4
WSH	3	15:28	T Johansson end-to-end	10	25	30	52	55	90	17	20	28	33	36	44	5v5
WSH	3	14:02	T Fehr can\'t reach cross-crease pass	4	14	16	21	30	89	6	19	20	22	33	48	5v5
PHI	3	11:54	T Richards after Steckel FO win goes past D	15	26	27	30	39	74	6	15	18	21	33	41	5v5
PHI	3	10:21	T GOAL Carter	8	21	28	30	52	55	17	20	25	28	33	45	5v5
WSH	3	8:58	ZP GOAL Backstrom	8	16	19	21	30	52	5	18	20	28	33		5v4
WSH	3	8:30	ZP GOAL Chimera	14	25	26	30	52	74	11	33	36	41	44		5v4
PHI	3	6:08	ZP GOAL Nodl	14	16	21	30	52	55	15	18	20	21	25	33	5v5
WSH	3	3:10	T Semin wrister	4	8	19	28	30	89	15	20	21	33	36	44	5v5
WSH	3	0:40	ZP GOAL Fehr	8	16	19	21	28	52	18	20	28	33	44		5v4
WSH	4	3:00	T Fehr wrister	14	16	30	52	55		18	25	28	33	41		4v4
WSH	4	2:40	T Green joins the rush, pass misses Fleischmann	14	16	30	52	55		18	20	25	28	33		4v4
PHI	4	1:37	ZP Pronger one-timer	15	21	30	55			18	20	28	33	44		3v4

#	Player	EV			PP			SH
4	J. ERSKINE	10:16	3	2	0:00	0	0	0:49	0	0
8	A. OVECHKIN	13:33	2	2	9:18	11	0	0:00	0	0
10	M. BRADLEY	7:32	3	3	0:00	0	0	0:00	0	0
14	T. FLEISCHMANN	11:03	6	2	3:53	8	0	0:51	0	0
15	B. GORDON	8:07	0	2	0:00	0	0	5:06	0	4
16	E. FEHR	9:35	5	3	4:29	9	0	0:00	0	0
19	N. BACKSTROM	12:38	2	1	5:56	4	0	1:44	0	2
21	B. LAICH	11:22	4	3	6:06	4	0	5:11	1	2
25	J. CHIMERA	8:30	3	4	3:50	8	0	2:50	0	1
26	M. HENDRICKS	7:57	0	3	0:28	1	0	2:49	0	0
27	K. ALZNER	14:42	2	6	0:13	0	0	6:19	0	3
28	A. SEMIN	12:37	3	2	5:06	3	0	0:42	0	0
30	M. NEUVIRTH	40:35	11	10	9:49	11	0	13:29	1	6
39	D. STECKEL	6:31	0	1	0:00	0	0	3:34	0	1
52	M. GREEN	16:24	6	3	8:39	11	0	6:18	1	3
55	J. SCHULTZ	15:18	6	3	0:00	0	0	5:37	1	3
74	J. CARLSON	15:04	2	6	1:42	2	0	5:55	0	2
89	T. SLOAN	9:06	3	0	0:00	0	0	0:03	0	0
90	M. JOHANSSON	8:48	3	4	0:07	0	0	4:20	1	2

Period	Totals		EV		PP		5v3 PP		SH		5v3 SH
1	10	2	6	1	3	0	0	0	1	1	0	0
2	5	10	0	6	5	0	0	0	0	4	0	0
3	7	3	3	3	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	2	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Totals	24	16	11	10	12	0	0	0	1	6	0	0