Adrian Fedkiw
The Philadelphia Flyers are back to their winning ways and they did so by beating a pair of arch nemeses.
The Washington Capitals and the shootout.
Wayne Simmonds scored in the fourth round of it and the Flyers snapped a brief two-game slide following their amazing 10-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory over the Capitals on Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Center.
T.J. Oshie scored for Washington in the first round, neither team found twine in the second and Jakub Voracek was able to sneak one past Braden Holtby in the third. Wayne Simmonds slowly maneuvered toward Holtby and deked several times before lifting the puck into the top shelf. Steve Mason stopped former Flyer Justin Williams on Washington’s ensuing attempt to preserve the win.
Flyers snap their brief 2-game slide by beating the Capitals in a shootout pic.twitter.com/TT6bdp3KYb
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) December 22, 2016
The shootout has been a major weakness for the Flyers over recent years, but they improved to 4-2 in those situations this season. They lead Washington in the standings by two points, but have played four more games than their Metropolitan Division rivals.
Michael Raffl and Claude Giroux tallied the goals for Philadelphia in regulation, while Mason stopped 36-of-38 shots, including a flurry of Capitals chances in the waning seconds after they were rewarded with their first power play with 1:48 to go in the third period.
Caps were on the power play the final 1:48 of regulation and Flyers stave off a few chances in the final seconds to force OT @AdrianFedkiw pic.twitter.com/JPFXqQZvbP
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) December 22, 2016
Holtby, who made 36 saves as well, stopped consecutive shots by Giroux and Shayne Gostisbehere in the extra session with approximately 1:30 left.
Holtby stops a pair of shots to keep the game scoreless in OT pic.twitter.com/lSGwYwsmsy
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) December 22, 2016
The Flyers were unable to find the back of the net on the power play for a fifth straight game. They finished 0-for-2 on the man advantage and are 0-for-13 over their last five tilts after leading the NHL in that category.
Andre Burakovsky got the scoring started late in the first when he ripped Dmitry Orlov’s right point pass past Mason from the high slot.
Capitals strike first at 18:24 as Burakovsky rips it into the back of the net off Orlov's right point pass @AdrianFedkiw pic.twitter.com/LOnHM2VBTR
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) December 22, 2016
The Flyers evened the score at 4:25 in the second on Raffl’s wrap-around attempt which was originally ruled no goal.
Raffl's wraparound ruled a goal after further review @AdrianFedkiw pic.twitter.com/oSctzESFNZ
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) December 22, 2016
Lars Eller put the Capitals back in front midway through the second when they chipped at a loose puck in the crease and Eller put it home.
The puck gets chopped at in the crease and Eller puts it home to put the Caps back in front 2-1 midway through the 2nd period @AdrianFedkiw pic.twitter.com/tmvkCNPQfg
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) December 22, 2016
Giroux capitalized on a Washington turnover in the final moments of the second and whistled his wrister into the upper right hand corner to knot the contest at 2-2 heading into the second intermission.
Giroux's wrister into the corner ties it at 2-2 right before the end of the 2nd period @AdrianFedkiw pic.twitter.com/5zD49kDW6t
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) December 22, 2016