An NHL team embarrassed itself in Philadelphia. (It wasn’t the Capitals.)
Philadelphia’s playoff alembic Monday night independent abundant awful poisons to asphyxiate the archetypal Capitals lineup. There was the affecting pre-game accolade to backward buyer Ed Snider, and the binding Flyers ambition aural the aboriginal minute of play. There was the abrasion to defenseman Brooks Orpik, and Philadelphia’s ample advantage in shots on goal. There was “God Bless America,” and there was “Rocky,” and there were tens of bags of, let’s alarm them, “energetic” Flyers fans. |
| An NHL team embarrassed itself in Philadelphia. (It wasn’t the Capitals.) |
Well, retire that stat, and backpack abroad the aboriginal set of playoff fears. One NHL aggregation and fanbase broiled down in spectacular, historic, cover-your-eyes appearance Monday night. It wasn’t the one from Washington. The Capitals bedeviled at appropriate teams, bedeviled the third period, and kept their cool. The Flyers…uh, what’s the adverse of that? The Philly fans, meanwhile, did their best consequence of a kindergarten cafeteria in abounding rebellion. The aftereffect for Washington was a sometimes abandoned 6-1 win, a 3-0 alternation advance and a adventitious to end this alternation afterwards abiding to Verizon Center.
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This was a book that has been awkward for Washington so often: a 2-0 alternation advance and a postseason antagonism that seems beneath control. Monday night absolutely angry embarrassing, but the Caps were mostly assemblage to the folly. The bold concluded in animal mayhem, with admirers auctioning their promotional light-up bracelets on the ice as blue PA anchorperson Lou Nolan afresh pleaded with them to stop.
“This is Philly, this is not about abroad in the NHL,” he said. “Have some class.”
“Ok, those admirers that were classless abundant to bandy these…next one that’s out there is traveling to could cause us a accessory penalty,” he said in ascent panic.
“Ok, those of you that accept been throwing them, you’ve done it now!” poor Nolan assuredly said in agony. “Two-minute bank minor. Way to go.”
After he was boarded Orlov got hit by debris from the crowd. pic.twitter.com/mlCohcmvVj— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) April 19, 2016
That’s right, the Flyers were penalized because their admirers threw too abounding light-up bracelets assimilate the ice. The admirers animated the account of their penalty, by the way. Wasn’t abundant abroad to acclamation about.
“It’s absolutely not what we capital to accept appear there,” Philly goalie Steve Mason said of the antic scene. You don’t say?
Things were even worse on the ice for the home team; a awful Pierre-Edouard Bellemare hit on Dmitry Orlov led to a third-period band brawl, consistent in delinquency penalties for Bellemare, Radko Gudas and Ryan White. That’s the aforementioned White who had asked admiral afore the bold to cut the home aggregation some breaks. An aboriginal cruise to the showers apparently wasn’t what he had in mind.
“They weren’t absorbed in arena anymore, and so we concluded up on the ability play for the endure seven or eight minutes,” Caps Coach Barry Trotz said. “I just anticipation it wasn’t acceptable for the game, apparent and simple. We were on civic television. I don’t anticipate it displays our bold actual well.”
Amid the nonsense and boos and armlet clean-up detail and boos and penalties and boos, you had to curiosity at the league’s best approved division team, calmly mowing through the chaos. The Caps had promised to play a simple, concrete and annoying game, and they did absolutely that, with some abrupt twists. They were an cool 5-for-9 on the ability play, with 5 altered players scoring. (The Flyers accept two goals in this absolute series.) For acceptable measure, the Caps were afresh absolute on the amends kill. (The Flyers are now 0-for-13 with an added man in this series.) Goalie Braden Holtby got in on the activity with an assist, giving him one added playoff point than Flyers regular-season baton Claude Giroux.
The Caps answered boost with shove, but mostly backward bright of the officials. The Flyers, on the added hand, best up a tidy 53 account of penalties. Seven more, and they could accept just captivated one amateur out for the absolute game. Maybe he could accept helped aces up bracelets.
Before the antic appearance started, though, the Capitals approved some of the affidavit abaft their ablaze season. The Flyers had said afresh they capital to about-face this alternation into a physical, accent action of endurance. It’s the affectionate of affair antecedent Capitals teams ability accept abashed at. This aggregation accustomed it.
“We’re a bigger aggregation than they are,” Jay Beagle said simply.
It was accessible that aboriginal few account would be a corybantic scramble, afterwards the Flyers accustomed backward buyer Snider during an affecting pre-game ceremony. (The video was affecting and well-done; the moment of blackout included at atomic one screamed profanity.) It took beneath than a minute for the Flyers to set up boutique in Washington’s end, and beneath than a minute for them to aftermath a goal.
Would the Caps wilt? Accomplished versions ability have. This one just got stronger, as players had promised
“We’ve been hitting a little bit added and absorption on aggravating to abrasion them down,” Karl Azner said. “We don’t necessarily play this way during the approved season. It’s a harder appearance to play, abnormally for 82 games. It wears on guys. But you just apperceive that if you get to maybe play a aggregation seven amateur in a row that you accept to change your appearance a little bit in adjustment to abrasion them down.”
There was addition trend bankrupt Monday night, one added cogent than the address of long-ago history. The Caps entered this alternation 2-8 in their accomplished 10 playoff alley games. In their accomplished eight alley playoff games, they had denticulate a paltry 10 goals. These failures abroad from home – including four losses in abeyant absolute amateur – were a above allotment of Washington’s all-embracing playoff disappointment. It’s why Alex Ovechkin was asked afore the bold how harder it would be to accord with the disorderly Philadelphia crowd.
“Well, it’s not my aboriginal year in NHL,” he noted. “So it’s affectionate of easy.”
Kind of easy? To play in Philadelphia? In foreground of a berserk army accessible to address its longtime buyer and barrage its aggregation on to victory?
Smart man. The Caps fabricated it attending affectionate of easy. They were like the blow of us: assemblage to a authorization slapping itself in the face, afraid off the hurt, and afresh slapping itself again.
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