A sluggish first period set the tone for the evening as the Philadelphia Flyers (1-2-0) fell 5-1 to the Washington Capitals (2-0-0) in their third contest of the preseason.
“I think the overall team looked really tired,” said Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet postgame. “We looked tired tonight, you could tell. Even like a six-foot pass was tough for us tonight, so you know we’ve just got to stick with it. We’ve got to get some guys, you know, got to refresh it a little bit. I think guys were really tired. Washington played a great game.”
The Flyers trailed 3-0 over midway through the game before Jacob Gaucher’s first tally of the preseason gave the Flyers a glimmer of hope. A shorthanded goal by Connor McMichael just 67 seconds into the third period all but dimmed that hope en route to the loss.
Dan Vladař stppped 8 of 9 shots faced in his Flyers preseason debut before Aleksei Kolosov stepped in to begin the second period. The Belarusian went on to record the loss after allowing 4 goals on 20 shots.
FIRST PERIOD
Score: 1-0 WSH
Shots: 9-5 WSH
Both teams couldn’t seem to get a firm handle on the puck early with plenty of sloppy passes and a low amount of quality shots.
The Capitals got their legs under them in short order however, and momentum really shifted in their favor after a Noah Juulsen kneeing minor put them on the power play. Andrew Cristall made the Flyers pay with 20 seconds left in the man advantage to score the icebreaker for the “home” team.
The Capitals kept their foot on the gas and forced Vladař to make some key saves to keep the Flyers within a goal.
Philadelphia would get a few more looks on net before the period wound down but could not solve Clay Stevenson before zeroes showed on the clock.
SECOND PERIOD
Score: 3-1 WSH
Shots: 21-15 WSH
Kolosov relieved Vladař to begin the second period, marking the second consecutive game in which he has relieved a starter. Kolosov took over for Sam Ersson on Tuesday in Montréal after twenty minutes, giving him ample opportunities to play and continue to get into game shape as he projects to be the Lehigh Valley Phantoms’ starter in the AHL.
Kolosov made a few saves early on but the Capitals were relentless in their attack. Ivan Miroshnichenko made it a 2-0 game just over nine minutes into the middle frame after he got the extra step on Helge Grans and danced around him on his drive to the net to score.
Sonny Milano extended the Washington lead to three goals just 2:03 after the Miroshnichenko goal. Vincent Iorio skated along the right side and after Juulsen and Dennis Gilbert ran into each other, he fed Milano in the slot. The forward weakly beat Kolosov on a shot that shuffled between his legs for the marker.
Lost in all of this was that the Flyers had three power plays in the second period and didn’t convert on a single one. Compared to last year, or really the last few years, there did seem to be more urgency in getting pucks on net and quickly moving the puck around. Obviously this game didn’t tell the whole story since most of the NHL personnel didn’t play, but it gave a glimpse into both what’s in store for the power play and what the growing pains could look like as Tocchet and Yogi Švejkovský try to fix a long-suffering unit.
The Flyers finally showed real signs of life as Gaucher cut the lead to 3-1 with 4:09 remaining in the period. Adam Ginning fired a one-timer from the left point that Stevenson stopped and Gaucher was on the doorstep to clean up the rebound.
Philadelphia seemed to finally find their rhythm after the goal and peppered the Capitals cage quite a bit at the end, totaling 10 shots in the frame, but they still trailed by a pair entering the third period.
THIRD PERIOD
Score: 5-1 WSH
Shots: 29-16 WSH
The Flyers received an early power play thanks to a Rasmus Sandin tripping call, but instead of not just scoring on it, disaster fully struck in the way of McMichael’s shorthanded goal.
McMichael and Aliaksei Protas had a 2-on-1 after first-round pick Jack Nesbitt turned the puck over trying to pass back to Egor Zamula at the blueline. Zamula desperately dove to try and cover the passing lane and Kolosov was even cheating a bit to try and defend on the potential pass, but McMichael took advantage as Kolosov wasn’t square to the shooter and was too deep in his net. He beat the goalie high over the blocker to make it 4-1 Capitals.
With 7:53 left, Iorio seemingly scored to make it 5-1 Washington and the replay showed that the puck clearly hit off the back bar inside the goal and came out. Nevertheless, the goal was waved off to keep the Flyers within three.
The Capitals would get their official fifth goal anyway as Milano nabbed his second goal of the game with 63 seconds left to put a bow on the evening for Washington.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Sonny Milano – WSH, 2) Hendrix Lapierre – WSH, 3) Clay Stevenson – WSH
UP NEXT
The Flyers host the Boston Bruins on Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena for their first home preseason contest of 2025 (5:00pm ET).
