Ilya Bryzgalov's heroics in front of goal help Philadelphia Flyers win 1-0 against Washington Capitals - NHL Update
It took a deflected goal in the second period to separate the two sides as Philadelphia Flyers won on the road to Washington Capitals by a 1-0 margin on Sunday, March 4, 2012.
The Flyers were under pressure for most of the game being outshot 34-23 but they had the better goaltender.
Ilya Bryzgalov made 34 saves during the game to keep out the Capitals increasingly desperate attempts and complete another shootout while giving his team a much needed consecutive win.
Philadelphia have now won two games in a row and move up the Eastern Conference table into fifth with 79 points.
With two points in the bag and two wins in a row, the Flyers are looking increasingly comfortable and if Bryzgalov can provide similar performances for the rest of the season the team have the potential to move further up the rankings.
Washington on the other hand were heartbroken with the loss after dominating for most of the game and only Bryzgalov’s heroics kept them from running out with a win.
The Capitals will be cursing their luck even more after the Flyers winner came off a shot from Pavel Kubina which deflected off Eric Wellwood and past Washington goaltender Michal Neuvirth.
Forward Alex Ovechkin looked disappointed after the game with his mistake leading up to the only goal.
"Tough loss for us, I think," Ovechkin said. "My mistake cost us two points and it cost us the game."
Philadelphia Centre Danny Briere was happy with the consecutive win and said that if the Flyers continue such good performances they will surely go far into the playoffs.
"We wanted to follow it up. It was always: good game, bad game, good game, bad game."
Adding further he said.
"To win a game on the road against a very good offensive team -- to blank them, on top of it -- it's good for the mindset of the team," Briere said. "It's no secret, in the playoffs, this is the type of hockey that needs to be played if we want to win."
Washington dominated each of the three periods and in the first period only Bryzgalov kept the Flyers in the game.
The Capitals dominance led Flyers coach Peter Laviolette to call a time-out in the second period and give his players a long talking to.
It seemed to have worked as the Flyers looked much more assured and a few minutes later they managed to take the lead.
Philadelphia will now look to build a run of three wins in a row on Tuesday against Detroit Red Wings while the Capitals will hope to score some goals against Carolina Hurricanes.
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