Philadelphia’s penalty kill presents unique challenge
The puck is whipped around the offensive zone, a power play in progress. But it is times like these — when a team thinks it has the advantage against the Philadelphia Flyers — that the opposite often is true.
All of the sudden, the puck is headed in the other direction and a team is left wondering how a man-advantage turned into a goal against.
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It is a lesson the Capitals need to keep in mind when Philadelphia comes to town for a 7 p.m. game tonight at Verizon Center.
The Flyers have scored an NHL-best 16 shorthanded goals this season. That is six more than the next teams — Montreal, San Jose and New Jersey. Forward Mike Richards leads the league with seven shorthanded goals, and teammates Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne rank second with four each.
“They’re one of the very few teams that you’re going to show video on how offensive they are (on the penalty kill),” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “So you have to be aware of doing certain things when you’re on the power play. Mike Richards is a master at anticipation and so are Carter and Gagne.”
The Flyers are tied for seventh in the NHL with a penalty-kill percentage of 82.9 percent. They have already registered one shorthanded goal against the Caps — Carter during the 7-1 Philadelphia blowout on Dec. 20 — and also scored three power-play goals in nine attempts.
Washington certainly poses a challenge for the Flyers with a power play that ranks third in the NHL at 24.1 percent. Defenseman Mike Green is tied for the league-lead with 15 power-play goals, many on a patented back-door passing play that takes advantage of an aggressive penalty kill.
“But we’ll always make sure a guy stays high in the offensive zone,” Caps forward Matt Bradley said. “You have to do that against them.”
