In the front end of a home-and-home set, the Philadelphia Flyers sustained a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Washington Capitals at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday evening.

Two breakdowns on the power play dug a 2-0 deficit for the Flyers in the first period from which they never recovered. On both goals, the Flyers second PP unit was on the ice.

At 3:49, Martin Fehervary sent a puck that Nic Dowd (SHG, 1st) poked past Egor Zamula and the point. Dowd soloed on the backhand for a 1-0 lead. Fehervary got the lone assist.

The Capitals made it 2-0 at 15:07. After an intercepted puck inside the defensive zone, Washington countered. With redundant coverage on the left side, Connor McMichael sent Andrew Mangiapane (SHG, 2nd) in for a shot. The Cap beat Samuel Ersson to the blocker side. McMichael (4th assist of the season) collected the only assist.

The second period was scoreless.

With the third period starting at 4-on-4 manpower, Cam York sent a pass across to Travis Sanheim, who fired home a shot to cut the gap to 2-1 at the 34-second mark. The secondary assist went to Matvei Michkov. However, at 1:38, a Dylan Strome deflection (4th) restored a two-goal margin for Washington. The assists went to John Carlson and McMichael.

Sanny strikes. #WSHvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/y8MmabNKUf

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) October 23, 2024

Jakob Chychrun (2nd) added a goal from inside the point at 14:07. The assists went to Brandon Duhaime and Jakub Vrana.

Samuel Ersson (25 saves on 29 shots) took the loss. Charlie Lindgren saw just 18 shots for the game, stopping 17.

The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play including the two shorthanded goals they allowed. They were 5-for-5 on the PK.

Noah Cates and Nick Deslauriers entered the lineup in Tuesday’s game, and Nick Seeler was activated off Injured Reserve. Tyson Foerster, Jett Luchanko and Erik Johnson exited the lineup.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

74 Owen Tippett – 14 Sean Couturier – 39 Matvei Michkov
21 Scott Laughton- 48 Morgan Frost – 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee- 25 Ryan Poehling – 10 Bobby Brink
44 Nicolas Deslauriers – 27 Noah Cates – 19 Garnet Hathaway

8 Cam York – 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler – 9 Jamie Drysdale
5 Egor Zamula – 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

33 Samuel Ersson
[82 Ivan Fedotov]

PP1: Drysdale, Tippett, Frost, Konecny, Michkov
PP2: Zamula, Farabee, Poehling, Couturier, Brink

TURNING POINT

Philly could not afford to put themselves in a position to have to chase the game but did just that. Additionally, the units in general seemed disconnected and the Flyers struggled mightily to find cohesion.

POSTGAME 5

1) With Alex Ovechkin in the penalty box for interfering with Garnet Hathaway, the Flyers yielded multiple counterattacks. On the third, Fehervary sent the puck past the point and went off on the breakaway that resulted in the game’s first goal. At 4:29, Deslauriers engaged in a long fight with Dylan McIlrath. Both players got cut in the scrap. McIlrath had to go off for repairs.

2) First period shots on goal were 10-10. The Flyers had some initial pressure on their two power plays before things went sour. On the PK, they clogged the middle and blocked multiple shots.

3) Midway through regulation, shots on goal were 14-12 Washington. Overall, in the second period, Washington had eight shots on net to three for the Flyers. All Philly generated was some “almost” plays. Michkov and Konency weren’t quite able to cash in prime scoring chances and Sanheim missed on an opportunity to shoot for a rebound with only a teammate (Frost) cruising to the net. In general, however, the Flyers didn’t generate nearly enough shots at or on the net. Too many extra passes or out-of-sync plays caused frustration to build.

4) The Flyers were charged with 10 giveaways through the first 35 minutes of regulation. Head coach John Tortorella shuffled some line combinations again as the second period progressed. Most notably, Poehling centered Tippett and Konecny. At 14:32, a long shift for that line in the attack zone ended in a Konecny holding the stick penalty.

5) The third period started with the teams skating at 4-on-4 for two minutes after Konecny (third penalty of the games) and Chychrun took coincidental roughing minors at the end of the second period. At 6:34, a good glove save by Ersson temporarily kept the deficit at 3-1.