NHL Monday: Flyers fall into 3-0 hole after blowout loss to Capitals

Bellemare was suspended one game by the NHL on Tuesday night.

There are legal dangerous hits, and then there’s ramming a guy into the boards head-first at high speed. Based on the look of the hit, we should be grateful that Orlov managed to get up uninjured afterward. This was a dangerous, unnecessary play.

Let’s break this down into five key moments. But first...

Huge thanks to Mike Darnay for offering to put these together for this running series. The play itself came and went so quickly it’s easy to miss how it got set up in the first place.

Alex Ovechkin never stops being a badass. Exhibit 2135:

Nonstop cool.

If you need to know just how impressive the Wild’s effort was in Game 3, look no further than the shot totals. Even with the Wild leading the entirety of the third period, Dallas got just 17 shots on goal against Dubnyk all night. During the regular season, the Stars were tied for second in the NHL with 32 shots on goal per game. Minnesota can’t really match Dallas’ firepower, but the team did a stellar job limiting chances by the Stars’ various shooters Monday.

That may be the formula going forward, and while Dallas remains in a good position with a 2-1 series lead, Minnesota has reason for optimism. We’ve got some excitement heading into Game 4.

The Flyers will have to play for their playoff lives on Wednesday, as they are down in the best-of-seven series 3-0.

There’s a hockey game taking place between the Flyers and the Capitals. More importantly, there are Flyers fans having fun.

We’ve got Weird Beard Guy making a face at Braden Holtby.

And what tributes they were. The Flyers played a video capturing all that Snider meant to the city -- as he brought the Flyers, and professional hockey, to the city of Philadelphia.

Then their anthem singer, Lauren Hart, sang the Philadelphia tradition of “God Bless America” while wearing a Snider jersey.