‘Thanks, Philly’: Capitals’ Ovechkin enjoys bizarre clinch

The Philadelphia Flyers have a new fan.

In one of the more bizarre clinching scenarios in recent memory, the Flyers, needing a regulation win over the Washington Capitals to keep their playoff hopes alive, had said they would pull their goalie to try to stay alive if the situation presented itself.

Tied 1-1 late in the third, the Flyers did indeed empty their net.

Unfortunately, minutes before the Flyers had pulled their goalie, Philly actually was eliminated when the Detroit Red Wings’ David Perron scored with 3.3 seconds left to send their game against the Montreal Canadiens to overtime.

Alex Ovechkin, who scored the Capitals’ first goal on Tuesday, was told of the situation after the game and had some kind words for the now-eliminated Flyers.

“Detroit get a point and they still pull the goalie,” Ovechkin said post-game, per Stephen Whyno of AP. “They didn’t know that. But we’ll take it. Thanks, Philly.”

The Flyers needed a Red Wings regulation loss combined with a regulation win of their own just to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

But it will instead be Ovechkin and the Capitals headed to the Stanley Cup Playoffs where they will take on the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers.

Flyers coach John Tortorella said he wasn’t aware of the Red Wings result when he pulled goalie Samuel Ersson.

“That was the right time to pull him. Didn’t know anything was going on with Detroit at that time, but immediately after that our video guys told us that Detroit just went to overtime,” he said.

In Montreal, meanwhile, Perron and the Red Wings won a shootout, which was rendered meaningless.

“It’s crazy, it stings a lot obviously,” Perron said. “From going to look at the clock, there’s seven seconds, and then scoring that goal and then coming back to the bench, you kind of hear (we’re out) not too long after that.

“Obviously Philly is thinking that we’re losing that game maybe with seven seconds (left), they pull the goalie, they do their thing and Washington scores, so it hurts a lot.”

The Pittsburgh Penguins also were eliminated with Washington’s win.

As if the finale wasn’t wild enough, the Capitals are playoff bound with an unimpressive minus-36 goal differential.

— with files from CP.

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