Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson each scored twice, Jakob Chychrun added a goal and an assist, and Pierre-Luc Dubois handed out four assists as the Washington Capitals ended the Philadelphia Flyers’ eight-game road winning streak with a 6-4 victory on Tuesday.
Ryan Leonard added a goal and an assist for Washington (38-28-9, 85 points), which moved within a point of the Flyers (37-25-12, 86 points) in the race for an Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Travis Sanheim and Christian Dvorak each had a goal for Philadelphia, which lost for just the second time in regulation in its last 11 contests. Travis Konecny had two assists.
Tom Wilson, playing in his 900th career NHL game, opened the scoring with 5:01 left in the opening period. It was his ninth game-opening goal, tied for most in the league this season.
Ovechkin followed less than four minutes later with his 30th goal of the season. The NHL’s all-time goals leader extended his own record of most seasons with 30 or more goals to 20.
The Caps scored two goals on just five shots in the first period, but the Flyers evened things up quickly in the second. Sanheim scored just 39 seconds in on a goal that was originally disallowed due to goaltender interference, but was quickly overturned.
Carl Grundstrom evened the game nearly four minutes later off a nifty backhanded pass from Trevor Zegras after the Capitals failed to clear the puck.
Washington retook a two-goal lead in the period by converting two consecutive power-play opportunities. Chychrun scored his 24th, which leads all NHL defensemen, 6:58 into the period.
Leonard doubled the Capitals’ advantage with 2:23 left in the period on another extra-man advantage.
Dvorak then cut that advantage in half yet again 33 seconds into the third period, but Ovechkin, who now has seven goals in his last seven games, again extended the lead to two goals just over three minutes later when a Chychrun shot deflected to Connor McMichael, who sent the puck over to Ovechkin for the score.
Denver Barkey scored for the Flyers 7:52 into the period, but Philadelphia could get no closer. Wilson added an empty-netter late. Logan Thompson had 20 saves for the Capitals.
Thompson’s counterpart, Dan Vladar, allowed five goals on just 17 shots.
The Capitals improved to 27-1-2 when leading after two periods and 30-10-6 when scoring first. They have won three straight.
–Field Level Media
