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Flyers lose to Caps, 4-1, down two games to none

WASHINGTON - For the Flyers, it was a goal that will live in infamy. Goalie Steve Mason, whose superb play carried the team into the playoffs, allowed a Jason Chimera goal from beyond center ice that gave Washington a 2-0 second-period lead, keying the Capitals' 4-1 victory Saturday night before a raucous crowd at the Verizon Center.

Flyers' goalie Steve Mason looks down at the ice near his net after misplaying a Washington Capitals goal in game two of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals on Saturday, April 16, 2016 in Washington D.C.
Flyers' goalie Steve Mason looks down at the ice near his net after misplaying a Washington Capitals goal in game two of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals on Saturday, April 16, 2016 in Washington D.C.Read more(YONG KIM / Staff Photographer)

WASHINGTON - For the Flyers, it was a goal that will live in infamy.

Goalie Steve Mason, whose superb play carried the team into the playoffs, allowed a Jason Chimera goal from beyond center ice that gave Washington a 2-0 second-period lead, keying the Capitals' 4-1 victory Saturday night before a raucous crowd at the Verizon Center.

The Capitals, outshot by a 42-23 margin but getting another stellar performance from goalie Braden Holtby, have a two-games-to-none lead in the best-of-seven series, which resumes Monday at the Wells Fargo Center.

In franchise history, the Flyers are 3-14 when losing the first two games in a seven-game series. (They are 17-17 when a series is tied at one game apiece.)

"Our guys came out hard right from the start," captain Claude Giroux said. ". . . We needed that one goal to get the lead, but the same story. Holtby made a lot of nice saves."

In two games, Holtby has stopped 60 of 61 shots.

Nicklas Backstrom (three points) iced the win by scoring from the right circle with 2 minutes, 13 seconds left.

But it was Chimera's goal, which turned out to be the game-winner, that killed the Flyers.

Just 44 seconds before the goal that conjured memories of 1970 - Minnesota's Barry Gibbs fired a shot from the opposing blue line that beat Bernie Parent and knocked the Flyers out of the playoff picture - Mason made arguably his best save of the series. The Ontario native did a split to rob John Carlson from point-blank range.

But with 17:34 left in the second, Karl Alzner's dump-in from beyond the opposing blue line was redirected by Chimera near the red line, and it rolled slowly toward Mason and slid between his legs.

Mason looked up to the rafters in disbelief. It was a 101-foot tip-in.

"Just a bad goal," Mason said. "I tried to put it to the corner, and I messed up."

After a defensive breakdown by Brooks Orpik, Jake Voracek got inside the Caps defense, made a clever move, and slid the puck under Holtby's right leg. It was the Flyers' first goal of the series, and it cut the deficit to 2-1 with 10:23 left in the second.

Alex Ovechkin (seven hits) answered with a power-play goal, taking a cross-ice feed from Backstrom and one-timing a shot from his office, the left circle, into the net to put the Caps ahead, 3-1, with 2:39 to go in the second.

At that point, the Flyers faced a two-goal deficit despite a 31-16 shots advantage.

Late in an odd first period, the Capitals' fans erupted after their team denied the Flyers' five-on-three and five-on-four power plays.

"Holtby! Holtby! Holtby!" the fans yelled.

The chants were warranted. Holtby enabled Washington, badly outplayed to that point, to maintain its 1-0 lead with a series of eye-opening saves. At the end of a five-on-three that lasted 1:07, Holtby twice turned aside Wayne Simmonds on the doorstep, and a Brayden Schenn tracer hit the post.

When the first period ended, the Flyers had dominated the shots tally, 19-5, but trailed, 1-0.

The Flyers controlled the pace, had a huge territorial edge, and fired as many first-period shots as they had in all of Thursday's Game 1.

But the failed power-play opportunities made their frustrations mount. They finished 0 for 4 on the power play, making them 0 for 8 in the series - and 0 for 21 in their last six games, excluding the meaningless season finale against the Islanders, a contest filled with backup players.

Conversely, Washington was 2 for 2 on the power play Saturday and is 3 for 8 in the series.

During pregame warm-ups, Flyers fans unfurled a long banner behind the team's net. "Win It for Ed," it said, referring to club chairman Ed Snider, who died Monday after a two-year battle with bladder cancer.

There were perhaps 2,000 Flyers fans in the lively crowd, and the constant chants gave the game an Army-Navy feel.

At one point, Caps fans chanted "1975" - the last time the Flyers won the Stanley Cup.

"Never," countered Flyers fans, mindful the Capitals have not won a Cup in franchise history.

The Capitals need 14 more wins to change that.

scarchidi@phillynews.com

@BroadStBull

www.philly.com/flyersblog