What to watch as Flyers attempt to keep Capitals from sweeping mini-series

It’s the third time in a week that the Philadelphia Flyers will face the Washington Capitals at the Wells Fargo Center. But this time the Flyers will try to keep the brooms away after loosing two-straight to the Caps.

Here’s what to look for Saturday night:

These guys again?

The Flyers played the Caps on March 7 and March 11, and they’ve lost both games.

On Sunday, the Flyers controlled the first period, but only managed scored one goal. The Caps pushed back in the second period and the Flyers were forced to chase the game in the third. The Flyers were unable to come back and fell to the Caps.

Joel Farabee got the Flyers on the board first in the opening period. Goals by Alex Ovechkin and Dmitry Orlov in the final 16 seconds of the second period put the Capitals ahead, 2-1. Nick Jensen added an insurance goal early in the third period. Carter Hart stopped 24 of 27 shots in the loss. Ilya Samsonov earned the win with 36 saves on 37 shots.

On Thursday, Alexander Ovechkin opened the scoring off a Flyers turnover after a pass by goalie Brian Elliott that tipped off of Ivan Provorov’s stick and was taken instead by Ovechkin. Travis Konecny briefly tied the game, but another Flyers turnover ensued, this one caused by a bad play by Nicolas Aube-Kubel at the top of the offensive zone, which resulted in a Conor Sheary breakaway goal less than two minutes later.

The only scoring in the second period came from Washington, of course. A Jakub Voracek turnover and a late-to-arrive backcheck resulted in John Carlson joining a counterattack and scoring point blank. Later, Nic Dowd would beat Travis Sanheim off the rush and parlayed a lucky bounce off Shayne Gostisbehere’s skate into a 4-1 Washington lead.

The Flyers made a push in the third period. Ivan Provorov scored a four-on-four goal early in the third period before Scott Laughton got the team back within 4-3. Philadelphia got a little pressure thereafter before Dowd scored a long-distance empty net goal.

Elliott stopped 17 of 21 shots in a losing cause. Ilya Samsonov made 30 saves on 33 shots. The Flyers went 1-for-2 on the power play, and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

Losing skid

The Flyers have lost four of their last six games, with every loss coming in regulation.

Although the club has done a better job of late in generating shots and has been excellent on faceoffs, continued problems with puck management, defensive coverages, giving back a goal right after scoring one, failures on both sides of special teams, and some stoppable save opportunities that have gone in their net have turned winnable games into losses.

The Flyers made a push in the third period. Ivan Provorov scored a four-on-four goal early in the third period before Scott Laughton got the team back within 4-3. Philly got little sustained pressure thereafter before Dowd scored a long-distance empty net goal.

Elliott stopped 17 of 21 shots in a losing cause. Ilya Samsonov made 30 saves on 33 shots. The Flyers went one-for-two on the power play, and two-for-two on the penalty kill.

Projected lineup

Flyers:

James van Riemsdyk – Sean Couturier – Joel Farabee
Scott Laughton – Kevin Hayes – Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom – Claude Giroux – Jake Voracek
Andy Andreoff – Nolan Patrick- Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Ivan Provorov – Shayne Gostisbehere
Travis Sanheim – Justin Braun
Robert Hägg – Erik Gustafsson

Brian Elliott
[Carter Hart]

PP1: Giroux, Couturier, JVR, Farabee, Gostisbehere.
PP2: Voracek, Hayes, Patrick, Konecny, Provorov.

Scratches: Michael Raffl (hand), Phil Myers (healthy).

Injured reserve: Morgan Frost (shoulder surgery).

COVID-19 protocol: None.

Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Bäckström -T.J. Oshie
Jakub Vrana – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Daniel Sprong
Conor Sheary – [double shifting Cs] – Richard Panik
Carl Hagelin – Nic Dowd – Garnet Hathaway​

Brenden Dillon – John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov- Justin Schultz
Zdeno Chara – Nick Jensen​
Jonas Siegenthaler

Ilya Samsonov
[Vitek Vanecek]

PP1: Ovechkin, Bäckström, Oshie, Vrana, Carlson
PP2: Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, Sheary, Sprong, Schultz
​
Scratches: Lars Eller (family issue), Trevor van Riemsdyk (healthy).

Injured reserve: Michal Kempny (Achilles tendon repair surgery), Beck Malenstyn (Achilles tendon repair surgery), Henrik Lundqvist (open heart surgery).

NHL suspension: Tom Wilson (game four of seven, eligible to return March 20).

COVID-19 protocol: None.