Flyers Blow Two Goal Lead, But Andrej Meszaros’ Overtime Goal Beats Capitals, 3-2

Andrej Meszaros downplayed his memory after tonight’s game. When asked if he’d ever had an overtime game-winning goal, he said “oh, maybe once or twice.” Then he proceeded to go into great detail about how his other one was against Calgary and how it was totally awesome. Those weren’t his exact words, but you get the picture.

He’ll no doubt remember tonight’s, too. After his Philadelphia Flyers blew a two-goal third period lead against the Washington Capitals, Meszaros’ goal at the 1:07 mark of overtime gave the home team a two points they certainly deserved.

The goal was made possible by James van Riemsdyk, who set up a beautifully perfect screen in front of Capitals goaltender Seymon Varlamov. The Russian youngster came into the game after the first intermission when starter Michal Neuvirth left the game with what the Capitals are calling a lower-body injury. Bruce Boudreau said after the game that Neuvirth requested to leave the game.

Varlamov put in an admirable effort in his 41 minutes of play, but his team couldn’t seem to help him out much. For most of this game, outside of an eight minute stretch that Peter Laviolette talked about, the Flyers were just the dominant team. They snuck through the Washington defense with ease and they tallied up quality scoring chances even easier, but Varlamov held strong.

As a result, the Capitals were able to mount a comeback in the third period. Mike Knuble scored on a broken play just about eight minutes into the period, and 40 seconds later, Alex Ovechkin batted the puck down with his glove, off his stick and into the back of the net. The play was reviewed, but it stood as called on the ice.

Give credit to the Flyers, though. They could have just sit back from there and called it a night, ceding to a Capitals team that suddenly had all the momentum. Instead, they stepped up and took the game right back. They had several chances in the final 12 minutes of regulation, and without Varlamov the game would’ve never needed OT.

It was only a matter of time before he bent too far, and van Riemsdyk’s screen was just the tool the Flyers needed to put the game-winning goal in the net. The win gives Philadelphia the best record in the NHL -- at least until Vancouver is done playing later on Tuesday.

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