(Picture courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers Facebook Page) WHAT A GAME! It started off as a beat down in more ways than one. After taking a 2-0 lead, a BIG brawl broke out after Luke Schenn leveled Washington’s Ryan Stoa. The result ejected Vinny Lecavalier and John Erskine who were fighting each other. Coincidentally enough, this brawl comes on the 10th anniversary of another brawl:

Oh what a night that was. Broad Street Bullying at its finest.

Claude Giroux was involved in the first three goals, scoring two and assisting Jake Voracek’s first goal. Giroux led by example after telling NBC’s Piere Mcguire that the team needed to follow up Sunday’s great comeback with a strong first period. Voracek would score again on a fast break in the third but it came after the Caps scored three-straight goals including Alex Ovechkin’s 44th on the year. After Brooks Laich scored the Capitals’ third power play goal of the night, the Flyers’ defense buckled down and held off the Capitals while Steve Downie netted an empty-netter. Final Score: 6-4 Flyers. Philadelphia wins the season series 3-2. Andrew MacDonald goes +2 with an assist in his Flyers debut.

The Flyers move to 33-24-6 with 72 points on the year. Since the Rangers lost to the Maple Leafs in OT tonight, the Flyers now have a two-point lead on NYR for 2nd place in the Metropolitan.

Tonight’s game was a roller coaster for me. Frankly, I got scared that the Flyers weren’t going to be able to respond after the Caps brought it to a one goal game. Thankfully, Jake Voracek proved me wrong.

The team will need to improve on the PK but it’s good to see the team playing the “fast and physical” play Giroux talked about in the pregame. If they can do that for 60 minutes, this team can be deadly.

The Flyers return to action this Saturday night north of boarder as they make their only trip to Toronto this season. These two teams met in the Flyers’ first game of the season (it was Toronto’s second game) way back on October 2nd; Toronto won that game 3-1.