Flyers at Capitals
After earning a share of the NHL's single-season wins record, goaltender Braden Holtby didn't see much work on his plate en route to helping the Washington Capitals draw first blood in their first-round series with the Philadelphia Flyers. Holtby looks to keep the Presidents' Trophy-winning Capitals cruising along when they host the Flyers in Game 2 on Saturday night.
The likely front-runner for the Vezina Trophy, Holtby prevented Philadelphia from gaining an early advantage by thwarting three first-period power plays and finishing with 19 saves for his third career postseason shutout. "With a bunch of PKs, you have to rely on the goaltender quite a bit," forward Jay Beagle told reporters. "He obviously stood on his head again (Thursday). We had momentum coming (out of) the first." In addition to the scoreboard, the Flyers sustained a considerable loss as second-line center Sean Couturier suffered a reported AC sprain in his left shoulder and will be sidelined for two weeks, general manager Ron Hextall told reporters on Friday. "Obviously he is a huge piece of our team. He goes down, but someone else has to step up," fellow forward Wayne Simmonds told the team's website of the 23-year-old Couturier, who scored 11 goals and set up a career-high 28 others this season.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CNBC, CBC, TVAS, CSN Philadelphia, CSN-DC (Washington)
ABOUT THE FLYERS: Versatile Brayden Schenn could shift from left wing to center on the team's second line and 21-year-old Scott Laughton could make his playoff debut in Couturier's absence. "If (Laughton) does go in, he's done a good job killing penalties for us so that's a potential role for him," coach Dave Hakstol said. "He hadn't spent a whole lot of time on the power play so I wouldn't expect that." Philadelphia has struggled with the man advantage of late, mustering little during its four chances on Thursday to push its run to 0-for-17 in its last five games - excluding a "meaningless" season finale versus the New York Islanders.
ABOUT THE CAPITALS: While captain Alex Ovechkin's crushing hit on Couturier along the boards garnered the majority of the headlines, Washington's players weren't shy about putting their bodies on the line throughout the contest. Ovechkin joined defensemen Brooks Orpik and Dmitry Orlov in posting a team-best four hits while 14 of the Capitals' 18 skaters notched at least one. In addition, Washington recorded 17 of its 23 blocked shots during the second and third periods of Game 1.
OVERTIME
1. Holtby has limited the opposition to two goals or fewer in 10 of his last 13 postseason starts.
2. Philadelphia, which recorded eight of its 19 shots over the final 40 minutes of Game 1, averaged a total of 30 in its four regular-season contests versus Washington.
3. The Capitals have killed off their last 21 short-handed situations.