Flyers' power play comes up empty

The Flyers' special teams' failure proved fatal in their series against Washington, which won the opening-round playoff matchup with a 1-0 Game 6 victory Sunday at the electric Wells Fargo Center.

With the game scoreless, the Flyers couldn't score on a two-minute five-on-three in the second period, managing just two shots on that power play.

"If we don't get through that," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said, "this building probably explodes."

"We just had to find a way to get a goal on the power play," captain Claude Giroux said.

For the series, the Flyers were 1 for 24 (4.2 percent) on the power play; Washington was 8 for 27 (29.6 percent).

The Capitals' defenders, including former Flyer Mike Richards, gave Giroux and Shayne Gostisbehere little room to maneuver. Those two players usually drive the Flyers' power play.

"They pressured 'G' on the half wall, pressured Ghost up top; they had pressure everywhere," Brayden Schenn said.

The Flyers handed out orange T-shirts Sunday with the image of public-address announcer Lou Nolan and the words "Stay Classy Philly."

Nolan made that comment, and many more, as he scolded the fans for throwing promotional bracelets onto the ice late in Game 3 at the Wells Fargo Center.

As for having his face on a T-shirt, Nolan said at first he was "a little embarrassed . . . but I'm honored."

During Game 3, Nolan erupted after the fans drew a delay-of-game penalty against the Flyers.

"Way to go!" he shouted.

Nolan conceded that he was especially aggravated because the fans' conduct came on a night when the late Ed Snider, the team's chairman and cofounder, was honored in an emotional pregame ceremony.

"We should have been thinking about that as well as the game; we shouldn't be thinking about negative things," Nolan said, adding that it was "less than one half of one percent" who threw the bracelets.

Added Nolan: "I don't know where they came from, but they were unthinking fans, and if they want to come visit with me in the penalty box, I'll tell them so."

The players who composed the Flyers' top line for most of the series - Schenn, Giroux, and Wayne Simmonds - did not score a goal.

Radko Gudas had 10 hits, giving him 30 for the series, which is tied for second among players in the playoffs. . . . Andrew MacDonald blocked seven shots. . . . After losing a majority of faceoffs in the previous four games, Giroux won 19 of 26 (73 percent) Sunday. . . . Former Flyer Richards was 0 for 10 on faceoffs. . . . Jake Voracek's "no comment" about whether he played the series on a sore left foot - which sidelined him for nine late-season games - seemed to speak volumes. . . . Trotz called Flyers defenseman Nick Schultz a "warrior" for his 20 blocked shots in the series.