from Mike Sielski of the Philadelphia Inquirer,

If Hakstol was counting on his players' letting go of the tension and anxiousness that had hindered them during the regular season's final week, the Capitals' 2-0 victory in Game 1 seemed a continuation of the jumpy, undisciplined performances that the Flyers delivered. That relatively narrow margin wasn't an accurate indication of the control the Capitals maintained for most of the night, of the way the Flyers struggled to play a clean, sharp game.

They mustered just 19 shots on goal, and they did themselves no favors by squandering three first-period power plays, then handing Washington six man-advantages over the game's final 40 minutes. The most innocent and controversial of those penalties - Brandon Manning's delay-of-game infraction for unintentionally batting the puck out of play - led to John Carlson's magic-bullet goal in the second period on a point shot that caromed off at least one Flyers player. That moment was bad luck, but the Flyers didn't create enough good fortune of their own. A turnover by Jake Voracek led to Jay Beagle's put-away goal late in the third period, but by then the Flyers hadn't given themselves enough opportunities to tie the game. They never gave you the sense that anything other than a random sequence of events might save them.

Yes, the Capitals are the better team. But the Flyers can be better than they were Thursday night, and they'll have to be to push this series beyond four or five games.

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