Mar 31, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet argues with referee Kelly Sutherland (11) during a stoppage in play against the Washington Capitals during the second period at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
WASHINGTON – Everything was breaking right for the Flyers on Tuesday. The New York Islanders, Columbus Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings all lost in regulation.
That meant, a Flyers win in D.C. would put them in a playoff spot –- based on points percentage – and had it where the Flyers would control their own destiny moving forward and would no longer need outside assistance to get into the dance.
The problem was, the Washington Capitals were a big, ugly troll standing in the way of the Flyers crossing that last bridge to a playoff position, and if the Flyers couldn’t pay their toll, they would punch you in the mouth as a penalty, and do it repeatedly until they either turned around and went away, or succumbed.
For most of the first period, it looked like the Flyers were going to tuck their tail between their legs and go home. But they took every punch. They even punched back a few times.
Ultimately, they came up on the short end of a 6-4 loss, and while there are no moral victories at this time of year, as one more game ticked off the schedule and one fewer opportunity to make up ground went by the boards, there is a small silver lining that they didn’t just wilt.
They still believe. An opportunity still exists. There is still a path to be taken.
But this one has to sting.
“To start the game, for sure, we weren’t ready for it,” said alternate captain Travis Sanheim, referring to Washington’s tactic to be physical and take it to the smaller, less-experienced Flyers.
Others echoes his sentiment.
“We talked on the bench about that,” said the other alternate captain Travis Konency, referring to the way Washington came at the Flyers. “[We had to] just match it and have an answer for it.”
And coach Rick Tocchet probably summed it up best.
“It’s obviously a learning lesson,” he said. “They came out the first 10-12 (minutes) and tried to bully us.”
That’s what hockey is like at this time of year. It’s no longer just skating around and trying to make plays. It’s nasty. It’s physical. It’s intense. If you haven’t experienced it before, or at least it’s been a while, you might not be prepared for it, and the Flyers weren’t.
Washington is a big, heavy team and proved it. Tom Wilson, playing in his 900th career game, showed why he’s lasted in the league that long with bookend goals for the Caps – the first of the game and then an empty-netter to seal it – and threw one big hit after another after another, leaving several Flyers momentarily dazed.
TOM WILSON SCORES IN HIS 900TH CAREER GAME 🤩 pic.twitter.com/IRuTdruyjZ
“When you get the puck, you got to be ready for the hit,” Tocchet said. “Because when you’re not, you get smacked and the crowd [gets going] and you look at the bench and everybody starts to tighten up. That’s experience – knowing when the hit’s coming and how to take the hit. It happened twice when Wilson was out there. He’s a difference-maker out there. … We got a little bit nervous a couple times and we were kind of on our heels and we didn’t get it out.”
But he wasn’t alone.
If it was Alexander Ovechkin’s last game against the Flyers, he made it a memorable one, scoring twice, but he, too, used his size to give the Flyers fits, throwing his weight around ad frustrating them.
It was a smart approach by the Capitals. The Flyers are a young team, and they got even younger with the NHL debut of 19-year-old top prospect Porter Martone on Tuesday.
Martone had the jitters early and took a delay of game penalty in the first period when he shot the puck over the glass despite having no pressure on him.
But as the game progressed, he seemed to gain a foothold, and being a bigger player himself, he started to have a more noticeable bite in the game late in the second period and in the third.
On one shift in the third period he had a scoring chance, skated hard 200 feet on a back check and used his long reach to break up a play that would have led to a high-danger shot for the Capitals. He then hustled back the other way, another 200 feet and got another scoring chance.
“I think that’s something I could thrive in,” Martone said of the more physical play. “That’s kind of the way I like to play.”
The problem for the Flyers is, they don’t have enough guys like that – even down the lineup. They have guys who won’t back down and who are resilient and who believe they can overcome any hurdle, but they don’t have the difference makers to dictate physicality like the Capitals did on Tuesday.
They did come back though. Multiple times. Down 2-0 after the first period, they tied it with a pair of early second period goals. The first, by Sanheim, was originally called no goal on the ice by the referees, saying Christian Dvorak interfered with the goalie’s ability to make a save.
But the Flyers challenged the call, and upon video review, it was clear that it wasn’t Dvorak’s stick that interfered with Washington goalie Logan Thompson, but rather the stick of Thompson’s own teammate, Martin Fehervary.
Carl Grundstom, who was Tocchet’s choice to stay in the lineup against Washington with Martone debuting in lieu of rookie Alex Bump, rewarded the coach for that call by getting a greasy goal from in front of the net to tie it.
But the Caps pulled back in front with two power play goals in the second, one on a blast from the point by Jakob Chychrun and another on a snap shot through a scree by Ryan Leonard.
Both power plays were the result of tripping penalties taken in the offensive zone that can’t happen in big games like this, but first Konecny and later Trevor Zegras went to the box and the Capitals made the Flyers pay.
Hear from the Orange & Black following #PHIvsWSH. pic.twitter.com/UmKms8YF7U
“Me and [Zegras], we’re going to own it,” Konecny said. “I can’t take that penalty 200 feet from my net. It’s unacceptable. It’s just hard to climb back into a game twice in a row down two goals.”
The Flyers tried to come back a second time, but never fully made it back up the hill. They got to with one twice more on goals from Christian Dvorak and a tip drills core by Denver Barkey, but Ovechkin and Wilson answered each time to spread the lead back to two goals.
It wasn’t the best game for Dan Vladar in goal, as he only had 12 saves and would probably like a goal or two back, but he wasn’t the reason the Flyers lost the game.
They lost because they weren’t ready for the physical nature of the game in the first period, and they lost the special teams battle – again – after knotting the score.
And now they have eight games remaining and are in the same spot they were before the games kicked off on Tuesday. They are two points out of a wild card with a game in-hand on Columbus and three points out of third place in the Metropolitan Division with two games in-hand on the Islanders and a huge head-to-head matchup looming Saturday in New York.
So, nothing changed, but it’s hard not to recognize that a huge opportunity slipped through their fingers.
“We’re just on to the next game,” Konecny said. “We’ve been playing some really good hockey and we’re just gonna keep applying pressure. That’s all we can do.”
