Time: 12:30 PM EDT Venue: Capital One Arena, Washington, D. C., 20004 / The Washington Capitals are trying to hold on to first place in the Metropolitan Division while the Philadelphia Flyers are desperately chasing the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. That's why the Sunday matinee in Washington should feature plenty of intensity. The Capitals hold a one-point lead over the Islanders after New York scored two late goals for a 4-2 victory over the Flyers on Saturday. Both teams have seven games left in the regular season. The Capitals lost their last two and three of their past four but beat the Flyers 5-2 on March 14. Washington wasted a chance to really take command of the division on Friday when Minnesota scored a 2-1 victory. The Caps looked sluggish throughout after coming off of a very intense game against Tampa Bay -- a 5-4 overtime loss that saw Washington finish with a club-record 58 shots -- and could not generate much offense versus the Wild." I think we didn't play our best, and we let a team hang around on the road," Brett Connolly told the team's website. "It just kind of came down to one chance, and they buried that chance. So not our best effort, but we've got a few more games here to go, and we've just got to get better. And we know that that wasn't our best effort." Connolly scored the lone Capitals' goal, a deflection of a Nick Jensen shot that tied the game in the second period. But Washington had to play without winger Carl Hagelin (illness) and defenseman Michal Kempny (lower body injury). Hagelin's status was not known for Sunday on Saturday, but coach Todd Reirden said Friday that Kempny would be out indefinitely. The injury appeared to involve his leg and happened in the second period. For Philadelphia, Saturday's loss was a tough one as it was tied with New York until Josh Bailey scored two quick goals in the final four minutes and snapped a 2-2 tie. That left the Flyers five points behind Montreal, which holds the final Wild Card spot, before the Canadiens played on Saturday night. Robert Hagg and Shayne Gostisbehere each scored once for the Flyers in the loss. The latter goal was a power-play score that tied the game at two early in the third. Goalie Carter Hart, the 20-year-old who has shined for the Flyers in recent games as Philadelphia has tried to stay in the playoff fight, said recently that his team simply has to keep on working hard." Obviously, the end result is the playoffs, and that's what we're trying to achieve," Hart told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "It's crunch time right now, but we're just coming to the rink every day just worrying about our group. All that access noise, we can't control any of that. We just have to worry about ourselves and this locker room." That's what the Flyers will be focusing on Sunday. They'll need to limit defensive miscues against a Washington team that can score goals quickly and will likely be fired up after the Minnesota loss.--Field Level Media
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