It wasn't particularly pretty over the last 30 minutes, but the Caps survived the Flyers today, so that hotel reservation in Philadelphia will be put to use after all. That was a pretty incredible first 20 minutes, but like the Caps have done so many times this season, they let up a bit.
The big news after the game came from Flyers camp. GM Paul Holmgren said Mike Knuble, the hero from Game 4, is out for the rest of the series with a hamstring injury. One of Philadelphia's biggest advantages in this series has been its forward depth, and losing Knuble is a big hit to that.
Matt Bradley winning the race down the middle of the ice and drawing a tripping penalty might be remembered as one of the key "little things" should the Caps complete a remarkable turnaround. The Caps first power play chance in the third period was not good, but it got a little better after Bradley was tripped and they finally cashed in against some tired penalty killers after Alex Ovechkin was hauled down a few minutes later.
"I don't think people realize how fast [Bradley] is in a straight direction," Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said.
Speaking of Ovechkin, he did not register a point, but it might have been his best effort of the series. He hit the net six times in nine tries, a far better percentage than his first four games. Not only have the kids, Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom, awoken in the past two games, but Viktor Kozlov appears to be enjoying life skating with Sergei Fedorov. His pass to Fedorov was a beauty, and he flashed some of the dominant work down low that you'd think you could create every night with his size but often does not.
There was some discontent in Flyers camp about the officiating, but the goaltender interference call on Scottie Upshall was probably the only questionable one in the third period.
"It is tough. We're a physical team and we're going to play hard," Flyers forward Joffrey Lupul said. "There are some calls where we're making mistakes, and some calls where there are guys diving. It's tough for us. We're going to keep playing the same way, though."
