Flyers Outwork Capitals from Start to Finish in a Huge Win
Feb 3, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) reacts as Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (55) celebrates his empty net goal with defenseman Travis Sanheim (6) during the third period at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Tuesday nights keep belonging to the Flyers, and this one followed the script again as they leaned on preparation, structure, and timely execution to take down Washington and move to 8-0-0 on the season in Tuesday games. What made this win matter was not just the result after Saturday’s gut-punch loss in overtime and the noise surrounding the organization, but how decisively the Flyers controlled the flow from the opening shift and never let a confident Capitals team settle into the game they wanted to play.
The scuffling Flyers come into tonight’s game with the disappointment of Saturday’s OT loss to the Los Angeles Kings fresh in their heads, welcoming in the Washington Capitals, who are winners of their past three. It was not a must-win on paper, but it felt like one in the building, especially with how the last week has gone. Tonight was also Travis Konecny‘s 700th NHL game as well.
When the puck dropped, the Flyers looked like a completely different team; the forecheck was much stronger than it had been during this stretch of bad hockey for the Flyers. They looked like a team that was playing ahead of the puck instead of letting the Capitals bring the game to them, which was a welcome change for Rick Tocchet‘s crew. This culminated in great puck movement in front of Clay Stevenson, leaving Owen Tippett to clean up the puck and bang a shot home for the first goal of the game.
In the second period, the Flyers didn’t let off the gas at all, and kept the pressure on, and for the first time in a while, the Flyers backcheck pressure paid off when Rasmus Ristolainen stopped a puck, got it ahead to Nicolas Deslauriers feeding it to Carl Grundstrom who put the puck to the net and it went off the skate of a defender and handcuffed Stevenson and got a second goal for the Flyers. The Capitals scored a goal on a short-handed breakaway by Aliaksei Protas to bring the game back to a one-goal game.
The third period was a high-intensity period with both teams playing with an obvious intensity. The Capitals tied the game when Anthony Beauvillier wristed one past Daniel Vladar to tie the game. The tension in the building was palpable, but the Capitals got called for a hooking minor, and on the ensuing power play, the Flyers’ power play passed the puck around well, and it eventually found the stick of Jamie Drysdale, who broke the tie, and the Flyers fans erupted.
It was about as loud as the building has been all season. In the last minute, Ristolainen scored an empty-netter for his first goal of the season. In this immense game, the Flyers took home a 4-2 win.
A Reset That Actually Looked Like One
The three days off did not dull the Flyers; it sharpened and hardened them. They bought into a demanding practice and a film session that multiple players called one of their best of the season. You could tell early that they came in knowing what they wanted to fix, which has not always been a given lately. That work showed immediately against Washington, a team that usually tests your patience and structure early, because the Flyers did not feel their way into the game or wait for rhythm to appear; they brought it with them. Their start had pace but also clarity, which is the difference between skating hard and playing fast, and it was obvious they knew where the puck was supposed to go before it got there, allowing them to attack a tough opponent instead of reacting to one. They also countered the physicality of the much larger Capitals players as well, something that has been an issue against bigger teams this season.
You could clearly see that preparation in not only their passing, but also in the much-improved forecheck, because the puck moved crisply through the neutral zone, exits were connected instead of panicked, and the first few passes consistently put Washington on its heels. That kind of flow feeds the forecheck, since pressure works best when it is layered and predictable to your own bench, and the Flyers hunted pucks in pairs with support arriving on time instead of late. It felt organized without being rigid, aggressive without being loose, and that balance is rarely accidental, which is why the fingerprints of Rick Tocchet were all over the opening stretch as the Flyers played like a team that had spent days getting aligned and then came out determined to make that work matter right away.
Special Teams Reflected the Work and the Strong Start
That same preparation carried straight into the special teams, where the Flyers looked far more organized and deliberate, even when things were not perfect, which is important because special teams rarely are. Giving up a shorthanded goal could have rattled a group that has struggled to find consistency there, but instead, it barely changed their posture. Normally, that kind of mistake is where the cracks start to show, but it never really did. The power play stayed composed, kept its spacing, and eventually got rewarded, not because of one flashy sequence, but because the puck movement stayed patient and purposeful, which forced Washington to defend longer than it wanted to and cracked the structure that usually bails them out.
What stood out most was how often the Flyers controlled the start of those power plays, because winning faceoffs cleanly gave them immediate possession and let them get set instead of putting so much effort into keeping the puck in the zone or resetting after wasted seconds. That small edge adds up fast, since it keeps the power play on schedule and allows the puck to move downhill instead of sideways, and it also limits the chaos that leads to short-handed chances going the other way. When you pair that with cleaner decisions at the blue line and fewer forced plays into traffic, the result is simply better hockey, and even with a blemish on the scoresheet, the special teams felt like an extension of the strong start rather than a detour away from it.
The Great 8-0 Outplayed the Great 8 Tonight
Vladar was once again the difference in this game, in the steadier and more punishing way that drains belief from the other bench as the minutes disappear. He was sharp from the opening draw, controlling rebounds when Washington tried to turn routine shots into second chances, and never gave the Capitals the emotional swing they usually feed off when pressure builds. The calm mattered, especially late, because when the game tightened and the Capitals pushed everything forward, Vladar did not retreat into survival mode; he stayed aggressive in his crease, challenged shooters, and made saves that forced Washington to reset instead of piling momentum on top of momentum. By the time the final two minutes arrived and the ice tilted hard, the Flyers were playing behind a goalie who looked fully in command of the moment, not one hoping for the clock to save him.
That composure was most obvious in how Alex Ovechkin was handled for most of the night, because while he saw touches and took looks, he rarely found the clean space that turns his presence into panic. The Flyers did a strong job limiting his one-time opportunities and steering him into lower percentage shots, but it was Vladar who erased the danger when breakdowns did happen, especially during that final surge when Ovechkin was firing with urgency and intent. Those last pushes felt inevitable on paper, yet they never felt inevitable on the ice, because Vladar read releases cleanly, swallowed shots through traffic, and refused to give Washington the rebound or scramble they needed to crack the door. After the game, he said of how he played against Ovechkin, “I’m just trying to play middle ice and try to play as big as possible.”
On a night built around preparation and structure, Vladar was the final layer of it, and even with Ovechkin pushing hard to the very end, the Great 8-0 owned the night.
Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible, we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
Get New Articles Emailed Right To Your Inbox:
