Simmonds, Lindblom Lead Flyers Past Capitals

(Kate Frese/SB Nation)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers haven't been able to string together wins since the calendar turned to March, but one night after rallying for a key two points, they used a solid effort in a back-to-back to grab another two points over a key division rival.

The Flyers scored three goals in the second, highlighted by Oskar Lindblom's first NHL goal, and three goals in the third, two by Wayne Simmonds, to claim a 6-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Sunday night at Wells Fargo Center.

The first period had the typical feel of a Flyers-Capitals game. There were moments where pace dictated the play and led to scoring opportunities for both sides. It was also a very physical first period, with the Flyers out-hitting the Capitals, 11-9.

The Flyers had a pair of power play chances in the period. They failed to score on their first opportunity and had the second one cut short due to a roughing call on Sean Couturier that negated the last 1:09 of the power play.

The Flyers out-shot the Capitals, 9-8, in the first period.

The Flyers did get on the board first with an early second-period goal. At 4-on-4 following a pair of penalty calls in short order, Claude Giroux won a face-off back to Shayne Gostisbehere, who fired a one-timer past Philip Grubauer to give the Flyers the lead. The assist was Giroux's 659th career point, tying him with Eric Lindros for fifth all-time in Flyers history.

That lead held up for the Flyers for a majority of the period before the Capitals' prolific goal scorer struck. Travis Boyd made a nice play in the slot, using a spin move and drawing two Flyers to him before getting the puck toward the net. Alex Ovechkin was behind the defense, and tipped the pass into the net for his 43rd goal of the season and 601st goal of his career.

The Flyers struck at the end of the period for two quick goals to regain control. The first was certainly a memorable one.

Washington failed to clear the zone as Jake Voracek came up with a turnover at the blue line. He got a pass to Lindblom in the slot. Lindblom turned and fired a rising shot over Grubauer for his first NHL goal. 

Just 1:22 late, the Flyers struck again as Ivan Provorov's shot made it through traffic and was tipped in by the shin pad of Washington defenseman Christian Djoos to make it 3-1 with 19 seconds left in the period.

The Flyers were out-shooting the Capitals, 23-15, through two periods.

The Flyers added another goal early in the third period. On a set play off a face-off, Robert Hagg got a shot on goal that was deflected by Simmonds and in to make it 4-1 Flyers.

The physical play picked back up as Travis Konecny and T.J. Oshie got into it, dropping the gloves midway through the period.

The Capitals got back on the board midway through the period as well. At 10:31, Washington cashed in on a two-on-one as Jakub Vrana fed a pass to Chandler Stephenson to cut the Flyers lead to two.

The Flyers got the goal back at 14:27, as Simmonds capped the scoring, beating Grubauer from the high slot with a shot off a turnover for his 23rd goal of the season.

Washington kept the pressure on in the closing minutes of the game. John Carlson scored off a fortunate bounce off the endboards to cut the lead back down to two with 3:53 to play.

The Flyers finally iced the game as Voracek scored into an empty net with 37 seconds to play.

Mrazek made 25 saves in the win. Grubauer made 30 saves in the loss.

The Flyers are back on the ice on Tuesday as they take on the Detroit Red Wings. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• No Scoring

2nd Period

• PHI Shayne Gostisbehere (12) (Claude Giroux) 2:15
• WSH Alex Ovechkin (43) (Travis Boyd, John Carlson) 15:08
• PHI Oskar Lindblom (1) (Jake Voracek) 18:19
• PHI Ivan Provorov (13) (Radko Gudas, Sean Couturier) 19:41

3rd Period

• PHI Wayne Simmonds (22) (Robert Hagg, Gudas) 1:37
• WSH Chandler Stephenson (6) (Jakub Vrana) 10:31
• PHI Simmonds (23) (Unassisted) 14:27
• WSH Carlson (14) (Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson) 16:07
• PHI Voracek (18) (Couturier) 19:22

Game Statistics