Shorty Wanna Ride – A night after meeting for the first of four times this season, the Caps and Flyers will clash again Wednesday night in Washington. The Caps won 4-1 at the front of the home-and-home series of back-to-backs on Tuesday, earning their fourth straight win. Philadelphia fell for the fifth game in a row (0-4-1).

For the first time in franchise history, the Caps opened the match’s scoring with a pair of short-handed goals – from Nic Dowd and Andrew Mangiapane – and that proved to be all the offense they needed.

According to naturalstattrick.com, Washington ranks second in the NHL in number of possessions and has generated eight scoring opportunities, which ranks second in the League (Philadelphia leads with 10). The Caps aren’t known as a team that pushes the boundaries while shorthanded; they have had three seasons this century where they scored two shorthanded goals all season.

“Our (penalty kill) forecheck has done a very good job of denying entries, as we discussed at various points in the preseason and early in the season,” Caps coach Spencer Carbery said. “And I also think some of the speed there, like (Aliaksei) Protas, has created quite a few good looks there, and it’s been nice to capitalize. Both penalties yielded a little (more) – probably too much – than either team would like, but in two of those situations we were able to take advantage of huge goals from Dowder and Mange.”

Those goals helped extend the Caps’ winning streak to four. On the other side of the coin, the Flyers are trying to stop an early season decline because early season declines are often magnified. Philadelphia played well for most of Tuesday’s game, but the Flyers definitely lacked finishing; some of their best looks on net missed the mark.

“I think the biggest key is there’s a frustration level,” Flyers coach Jon Tortorella said afterward. “They want to play well; they want to win a hockey game. They want to score a goal at home.

“You cannot let frustration turn into deceit. You can’t forget your structure as we go through this. It’s doubled a bit since the beginning of the year and we’re in trouble, so there’s more pressure. But we just have to play the way we have to play within our structure. Hopefully good things will happen and we will gain our confidence little by little.”

Keep going – Through the first fifteen games of last season, Washington’s defensemen combined to score just one goal, while collecting twenty assists for a total of 21 points, a paltry average of just 1.4 points per night from the back end.

Things improved toward the end of the season, but the Caps defense still underperformed offensively last season compared to the team’s recent history. The 2023-24 Caps finished the season with 20 goals and 135 points, a total they surpassed in both pandemic-shortened seasons. Last season’s average of 1.65 points per game from the back end was the team’s lowest since 2010-11 (1.48), John Carlson’s first full NHL season.

John Carlson and Jakob Chychrun both scored for Washington in Tuesday’s game against the Flyers, and Martin Fehervary scored with an assist. In the five games so far this season, the Caps’ blueline has collected four goals and thirteen points, an average of 2.6 points per game.

Even before Tuesday night’s attack, it was clear that Caps defensemen were being more assertive offensively.

“I think the (defense) has been a big part of our offensive – whatever you want to call it – resurgence, or the ability to score, or produce quality scoring at a higher rate this year,” Carbery said. “And it comes in a lot of different ways, whether that’s getting the puck out of our zone and getting us through the neutral zone, or into the offensive zone, or adding a rush element as a fourth and fifth man in the zone.

“All these elements, I feel like they checked the box to help us become a more threatening attacking team. And then there’s our ability to shoot through it too; I have noticed that we are much better at finding shot lanes. If we don’t have a lane, make it a good decision.”

Carbery also points out the importance of making good decisions and placements with those high-to-low pucks, given Philadelphia’s identity as a best shot-blocking team.

“We can’t put pucks in shin guards,” the Caps coach said. “And that will come up tonight as Philly is one of the best shot-blocking teams in the National Hockey League. It consists of two parts; you’re destroying your service, and you’re fueling their transition when you let it ring off a man’s shin guards. And so I feel like our (defense) has done a really good job of being selective and finding shooting lanes when they’re there, and when they’re not there, you just reset them and let’s get back to work.

My rival – Many of the Caps’ new faces got their first taste of the Caps-Flyers rivalry last night in Philadelphia as Washington defeated the Flyers for the 100th time in franchise history (100-112-19-12), and a few of them then discussed the experience.

Chychrun’s father Jeff was a second-round pick of the Flyers in 1984, and he debuted in the black and orange on December 2, 1986 in Philly against St. Louis. The elder Chychrun played 199 of his 262 career NHL games with the Flyers; he led all NHL rookie defensemen with a plus-11 rating in 1988–89, but his career was shortened due to injuries. He also collected 742 PIM in his NHL career.

“It’s great,” says Jakob Chychrun of the Caps-Flyers rivalry. “It’s obviously a very passionate city here, and it’s a fun place to come and play. My dad was always excited about his time here, so it’s nice to come in and get a few points. I spent a while there in the penalty area and everyone said they got flashbacks because my dad spent a lot of time there too.

Before joining the Caps this season, Andrew Mangiapane played solely for the Calgary Flames, where he was intimately familiar with the ‘Battle of Alberta’ rivalry between the Flames and the Edmonton Oilers.

“You can see there is some tension; it is a rivalry, an inter-division rivalry,” says Mangiapane. “And I’m sure it will build (Wednesday); that’s what happens on these back-to-backs. So we have to be ready to play because they are going to bring everything.”

In the nets – Logan Thompson will get the net for Washington tonight as the Caps continue their early season rotation of Thompson and Charlie Lindgren, who stopped 17 shots to improve to a 4-0-2 longevity against Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

Thompson made his Caps debut just over a week ago, beating Vegas in DC last Tuesday night. He won his second start in New Jersey on Saturday and will look to make it three in a row tonight against Philadelphia. On the season, Thompson is 2-0-0 with a 3.41 GAA and an .877 save PCT.

Life against the Flyers, Thompson is 1-0-1 in two appearances – both starts – with a 2.98 GAA and a .909 save PCT.

Ivan Fedotov is Philadelphia’s starter tonight. The 27-year-old was Philly’s seventh-round pick (188th overall) in the 2015 NHL Draft, and he made his NHL debut late last season, appearing in three games and starting one.

Tonight Fedotov makes his third start of the young season. He is 0-2-0 with a 6.09 GAA and an .818 save PCT. in a clearly small sample size. Lifetime in the NHL, he is 0-3-1 with a 5.46 GAA and a .815 save percentage.

All in a row – Here’s a look at how the Capitals and Flyers lined up for Tuesday night’s game in Philly. The Caps will go with the same lineup – except in goal – while Philadelphia will insert Tyson Foerster into the lineup tonight for Bobby Brink, and will also start another netminder.

WASHINGTON

Forward

21-Protas, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin

24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson

88-Mangiapane, 29-Lapierre, 13-Vrana

22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 16-Raddysh

Defenders

6-Chychrun, 74-Carlson

42-Fehervary, 52-McIlrath

38-Sandin, 57-van Riemsdyk

Goalkeepers

48-Thompson

79-Lindgren

Extras

15-Milan

27-Alexeev

Out/injured

3-Roy (lower body)

19-backstream (hip)

77-Oshie (back)

PHILADELPHIA

Forward

21-Laughton, 48-Frost, 11-Konecny

74-Tippett, 14-Couturier, 39-Michkov

86-Farabee, 25-Poehling, 10-Brink

44-Deslauriers, 27-Cates, 19-Hathaway

Defenders

8 York, 6 Sanheim

5-Zamula, 55-Ristolainen

24-Seeler, 9-Drysdale

Goalkeepers

33-Ersson

82-Fedotov

Extras

17-Luchanko

71-Foerster

77-Johnson

Out/injured

94-Ellis (back)