Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Capitals move to Metro lead; Flyers’ slim hopes get slimmer

IfFMuEZFRkpH
Liam McHugh, Mike Milbury and Keith Jones examine the NHL teams fighting to make the playoffs including the Columbus Blue Jackets, Winnipeg Jets and Arizona Coyotes in the first installment of 'Push to the Playoffs.'

If you’re the dramatic type, you might call Wednesday’s game a microcosm of the Flyers’ season.

Things started very poorly in the game (falling behind 5-0 to the Capitals), much like the Flyers’ season began ugly (prompting the firings of their GM and coach). There were even echoes of historic goalie headaches, as Brian Elliott’s brief resurgence went splat against Washington.

To Philly’s credit, they showed the sort of grit that would inspire Gritty to repel from the roof, scoring three goals to turn a laugher into something more interesting -- which felt a bit like the Flyers getting so hot, a push to the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs ... well, wasn’t totally laughable.

Unfortunately for the Flyers, it was too little too late in Wednesday’s game, and it’s looking more and more like that will be the case for the 2018-19 season.

From Washington’s perspective, the Capitals continue to make a late push for the Metropolitan Division title. By winning 5-3, they now have 85 points on the season, leaving them two ahead of the Islanders, but the Isles have a game in hand.

It was a strong game for Alex Ovechkin, who nearly followed Sidney Crosby to 1,200 career points. Ovechkin will need to wait to match his rival, as he finished the night with 1,199 via a goal and an assist.

While Ovechkin’s goal was from his office (though not as immediate of a one-timer), it was Ovechkin’s assist that really impressed. Watch as he went sprawling to set up Tom Wilson:

Ovechkin would have had 1,200, but Ivan Provorov made this head’s up play.

The Capitals are now on a five-game winning streak, and have won eight of their last 10 games. Despite all of the talk of a Stanley Cup hangover, they might just win their division once again -- and possibly much more.

James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.