from Jerry Brewer of the Washington Post,

And now, there’s tension.

A joyous, breezy Washington Capitals season finally succumbed to the playoff strain Friday night at Verizon Center. Leading Philadelphia three games to one in this first-round Stanley Cup playoff series, the best team in hockey returned home for a closeout game, turned in a performance worthy of series-clinching victory and somehow still lost. The Capitals lost in a most mystifying and unreasonable manner, a cruel result that hockey sometimes delivers at random.

For a franchise that has a long and painful history of struggling in these moments, this was a torturous way to apply pressure. It’s one thing to choke. It’s another to be tagged by bad luck. After a star-crossed 2-0 loss to the Flyers in Game 5, what was a 3-0 series lead has melted down to 3-2. A potential short series is now a long and taxing one. On Sunday, the Flyers return to Philadelphia for Game 6 with a chance to tie the series and extend it to a full seven games. You can feel Washington’s pressure swelling.

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Game highlights are below...