The doors to the Philadelphia Flyers locker room opened and Lionel Ritchie’s “All Night Long” was cranked at full volume. Raise the roof and have some fun? Sure
Custom Los Angeles Kings Jerseys , the Flyers could afford to cut loose for a change and enjoy a rare string of success in an otherwise waste of a season.Heck, even Gritty shook his beastly belly and danced with NASCAR champion Martin Truex Jr.Sean Couturier had his first regular-season hat trick and rookie Carter Hart stopped 39 shots in another bright outing to lead the Flyers past the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Wednesday night.“It’s not something I was thinking about,” Couturier said. “The pucks find their way in. It’s nice to have them.”Couturier scored twice within 90 seconds in the second period and sealed the win with his 19th goal late in the third. “Coots” gave the Flyers hat tricks in consecutive games for the first time in 16 years after James van Riemsdyk kicked it off in Monday’s win. Couturier’s only two previous hat tricks had come in the postseason.The Flyers could open their own Lids franchise with the hundreds of hats collected this week.The Flyers entered in 30th place in the NHL and got a rare comeback victory in front of another sparse crowd at the Wells Fargo Center. The fans that showed up caught a slice of franchise history: Claude Giroux got his 500th career assist and joined Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke (852) as the only Flyers to hit that milestone.“I’ve been lucky to play with really good players and (am) lucky to be able to give the puck to all these players,” Girous said. “It’s a great accomplishment, but we just have to keep going here.”Hart, the 20-year-old rookie goalie, had another solid game as he tries to meet the hype that surrounded his call-up last month. Hart may not get the Flyers to the playoffs, but he at least helped them win consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 18-20.“We still have to find a way to have some fun,” Hart said. “When I got called up here, we were in a bit of a slide and things weren’t going too well. But they welcomed me with open arms.”Peter Cehlarik scored in his first game of the season and David Pastrnak scored in the first period to stake Boston to a 2-0 lead. Pastrnak scored on the power play just 4:29 into the game. Cehlarik made it 2-0 on a slapper where no Flyer was anywhere near him.The Flyers didn’t even take their first shot until nearly 12 minutes into the game
www.officialwild.com , and it seemed like it was shaping up to be another sorry game for the fallen franchise.They salvaged a goal in the first period when Giroux snagged a loose puck at the blue line and fed to Oskar Lindblom for his fifth goal of the season. Lindblom scored for the first time in 31 games.Couturier took over from there and sparked the Flyers to one of their more memorable wins of the season. He tied it on a tip-in past Jaroslav Halak and got the feed from Wayne Simmonds — after Carter turned away the puck off an odd-man rush — for the 3-2 lead.“They were more opportunistic or the goaltending was better at their end. Sum it up either way,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said.Hart made the lead stand in a ferocious third where the Bruins got a second goal from Cehlarik to make it 4-2 with 1:06 left.“He’s a mature kid. He prepares himself pretty well and does a lot of little things away from the rink that helps the team on the ice,” Couturier said. “He’s pretty calm back there. It’s what you want from your goalie.”Halak had 15 saves.“I had to make that one big save in the third and I wasn’t able to,” Halak said.Couturier has 18 goals and is one of the few untouchables — along with Giroux and Hart — the Flyers have as they trudge toward the Feb. 25 trade deadline. Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher, hired in November, will surely look to shake up the team and perhaps undergo a true rebuild.NOTES: Flyers F Jori Lehtera got a 5-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct for driving Ryan Donato face-first into the boards late in the second period. … Truex, a Flyers fans and New Jersey native, attended the game and was presented a No. 19 jersey (his car number) from Gritty.UP NEXT:Bruins host St. Louis on Thursday.Flyers play Saturday at Montreal. TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Alex Ovechkin reached 50 goals — again. And, then he added another for good measure while leading the Washington Capitals to a big victory.The Washington star scored his 50th and 51st goals of the season in a 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.He has 658 career goals
Minnesota Wild T-Shirts Authentic , moving past Brendan Shanahan for 13th on the all-time list. Ovechkin also hit the 50-goal mark for the eighth time in his career — a total surpassed only by Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy, who had 50 or more nine times.“I’ve had a couple of chances in previous years to score 50, but I didn’t,” Ovechkin said. “You always want to do something special, obviously, but sometimes it’s hard. I’m happy to get it done.”T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom also scored twice, while Braden Holtby finished with 28 saves as the Capitals won their fourth consecutive game and hold a three-point lead over the New York Islanders for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division.Nikita Kucherov scored his 39th goal of the season to increase his league-leading points total to 122. Tyler Johnson and J.T. Miller also scored for Tampa Bay, which played its final home game of the regular season. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots as the Lightning suffered their 15th regulation loss of the season.Ovechkin hit the 50-goal mark at the 14:35 mark of the third period, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Oshie at the bottom of the right circle past Vasilevskiy. He added his second of the game 1:40 later on the power play, hammering a one-timer from the top of the left circle off a feed from John Carlson for his 247th career power play goal to tie Luc Robitaille for fourth most in league history.With a four-goal lead on Edmonton’s Leon Draisatl for the Rocket Richard Trophy as the league’s leading goal scorer
Minnesota Wild Hoodies Authentic , Ovechkin is attempting to top the NHL in that category for the eighth time in his career — which would be an NHL record.“I think it goes under the radar a little bit how many games he’s played,” Washington right wing Tom Wilson said. “He’s always in. He’s always playing hard. They haven’t been easy miles on him. He’s done it hard and he’s played that way for a long time and he’s continues to just blow the roof off with his goal scoring. We’re pretty lucky to have him around and he deserves it for sure.”At the age of 33, Ovechkin is also on pace to be the oldest player since Phil Esposito in 1974-75 to lead the league in goals.“It’s been, obviously, a phenomenal milestone year for him and it’s going to continue to be for the next few years as well,” Washington head coach Todd Reirden said. “We’re so fortunate to have this player in Washington and playing for the Capitals. A generational talent. And, you know, the NHL is fortunate to have a guy like this. We’re spoiled in Washington for sure, but the whole National Hockey League is spoiled to have a guy like this. I’m happy for him because he put the work in. He put the work in and he deserves it.”Washington had a 3-0 lead after the first period on Backstrom’s first of the night and a pair from Oshie. Backstrom became the seventh player on Washington to reach the 20-goal mark this season. Backstrom made it 4-0 7:53 in to the second before Miller scored for Tampa Bay.Johnson converted a breakaway 3:36 into third before Ovechkin put the game out of reach with his 50th and 51st.“It’s the milestone as a goal scorer,” said Lightning captain Steven Stamkos
Minnesota Wild Hats Authentic , who has reached the 50-goal mark twice in his career. “He’s done it plenty of times. That’s why he’s been the best goal scorer in the last 10, 15 years for a reason and he did it again tonight.”NOTES: Lightning LW Yanni Gourde returned to the lineup after serving a two-game suspension. … Washington RW Brett Connolly missed his first game of the season due to illness. … A pregame ceremony was held to present Tampa Bay with the President’s Trophy as the team with the most points in the league. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly was on hand to deliver the trophy. … The Lightning presented captain Steven Stamkos with a commemorative silver stick for breaking the franchise record for career goals. Owner Jeff Vinik and former team captain Vinny Lecavalier, who held the previous record, made the presentation. … Amalie Arena was sold out for the 199th consecutive game, including playoffs. … Washington C Evgeny Kuznetsov extended his scoring streak to three games.UP NEXTLightning: At Ottawa on Monday night.Capitals: At Florida on Monday night.
