Nine months ago, the Flyers put the Capitals' Cinderella season to rest at Verizon Center in a Game 7 thriller, deflating a team that qualified for the playoffs with a miracle finish and one that energized a long-dormant fan base.Now, fast forward to Tuesday night, as those same Flyers were Washington's guests for the Caps' 41st game of the season, a first half that set the franchise record for the team that has been around for 35 years.
While the Caps had declared their distaste for Philadelphia before the contest in the local press, the game didn't quite reach the animocity of the verbal shots on the ice, although the Caps' sellout crowd certainly was willing to verbally spar with the pockets of Flyer fans in Verizon Center, shouting down the minority chants of "Let's Go Flyers" with a much louder retort.
Even the press box was near capacity, as Caps coach Bruce Boudreau joked afterwards it must be a slow night in Washington with all the media members covering the game. Of course, his team has moved to the forefront of the local sports scene with the Redskins done for the year and the Wizards mired in last place in the East, and now all of a sudden the Caps are the hottest ticket in town. With their old Patrick Division rivals in town, the team recorded its 10th sellout of the season - giving the team one more than all of last year.
When Nicklas Backstom opened the scoring less than three minutes in, the red-clad fans certainly expected an offensive display, particularly with the league's two top goal scorers on the ice in Alexander Ovechkin and Jeff Carter.
However, it didn't quite work out that way, as the Flyers tightened up and began to frustrate the Caps by playing strong defensively, as well as some good saves by Martin Biron, who made his mark in last year's series.
After Washington missed some good opportunities in the second period, the Flyers then took advantage of a Michael Nylander penalty early on, as Braydon Coburn scored the equalizer in the first minute of the third, and both teams settled back and looked for a chance to grab the victory.
Not surprisingly, after two of their games in last year's playoffs went to OT, so did this year's versiohs, and after both teams missed golden opportunities to win, VIktor Kozlov opened the shootout with a nice backhander, and Jose Theodore shut the door after that for a 2-1 shootout win.
With the win, the Caps are 27-11-3, on pace for 114 points, and strangely enough, that exactly matches the improbable second half the Caps put up last season to rise from last overall in the NHL into a Southeast Division title, giving Washington a 54-22-6 mark if you combine the two halves. Washington also has now won seven in a row (nine in a row at home as well), and 12 of its last 13.
But the Capitals' 18-1-1 mark at home is what really has left coach Bruce Boudreau pretty amazed on what has transpired so far this year.
He pointed out in his 33 years of being involved in professional hockey, he couldn't recall a team that had dropped just one regulation loss in its first 20 home games, but he certainly wasn't willing to look too far ahead.
When a reporter asked if he was looking to catch Boston, who now has a shrinking five-point lead over the Caps, Boudreau refused to take the bait, saying he was looking forward to Columbus. And, the Caps certainly won't be taking the Jackets lightly, having suffered a 3-0 defeat at Nationwide Arena earlier this season.
And, after creating a stir in the local press with his comments about the Flyers, Boudreau downplayed the controversy, saying tonight "Enough has been said about the war between Philly in Washington" (although according to the D.C. Sports Bog, Mike Richards was fuming afterwards over Alex Ovechkin's play).
Boudreau also pointed out the result was still a shootout win - "It's not like we came in here and out-shot them 43-14 and dominated them... That's basically a tie game for 65 minutes."
He even pointed out that while it's nice not to have to chase Carolina in the division race as they did last year, teams will be gunning for Washington in the second half as the Southeast Division leader and currently the second seed in the East.
But, judging by what the Caps have accomplished with up to a third of their opening lineup for part of the season, it will be worth seeing if Washington can keep up its breakneck pace it has set in the team's last 82 regular-season games.
