Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson – the last two remaining players on the roster from Washington’s 2017-18 Stanley Cup championship season – scored twice each to propel the Capitals to a crucial 6-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night at Capital One Arena.
Playing his 900th career game in the NHL, Wilson opened the scoring in the game late in the first period, and he snuffed out any remaining vestiges of a Philly comeback with a long distance empty-net goal with 64 seconds left in regulation.
Ovechkin scored his 30th goal of the season late in the first period, reaching the plateau for the 20th time in his 21 NHL seasons, extending his own record. Ovechkin’s second goal of the night goes in the books as the game-winner,
Ovechkin joins a trio of Hockey Hall of Fames – Gordie Howe, Johnny Bucyk and Teemu Selanne – as just the fourth player in League history to record a 30-goal season at the age of 40 or more.
Ovechkin and Wilson combined for five of Washington’s total of 16 hits in the first frame, too, pulling their teammates into what was a high intensity contest.
“They did right from the start of the game,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of his two heavyweights. “I thought the intensity level, the physicality, the pace of the game was [high]; you could feel it on the bench, that both teams knew what was at stake in that hockey game and how important it was to both sides.
“Our guys knew how important this game was, and our veteran guys led the way. And that is such an important piece, because they've been there before, they've played in these games. And for them to go out there and play the way they did, whether it was Willie, [Jakob Chychrun, Ovechkin], or Pierre-Luc Dubois. For them just to lead the way and calm some young guys that are going through this for the first time was vital for our success tonight.”
Each team had a first-period power play opportunity, but neither was able to convert. The Caps struck for a pair of goals in the back half of the first to take a two-goal lead to the room after 20 minutes of play.
Rasmus Sandin started the first scoring play, pushing the puck ahead to Dubois in neutral ice. Dubois gained the zone in the middle of the ice and left a drop feed for Wilson, who whipped a wrist shot past Philly goaltender Dan Vladar on the stick side at 14:59.
It was the first of four assists for Dubois on the night.
Just over three and a half minutes later, the Caps doubled down with another rush goal. Dylan Strome sent Connor McMichael into Philadelphia ice down the left wing wall. McMichael pulled up and threaded a smart feed for late-arriving blueliner Matt Roy, and Roy carried down to the paint before issuing a backhand feed to the front for Ovechkin, who tapped it into the yawning cage at 18:35.
Philly answered back with a pair of quick goals of its own early in the second. With the two sides playing four skaters to a side, Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim put his team on the board at the 39-second mark of the middle period. Officials initially ruled “no goal” on the play, claiming that Philly center Christian Dvorak interfered with Caps goalie Logan Thompson, but the Flyers issued a successful coach’s challenge to cut Washington’s cushion in half.
Just under four minutes later, the Flyers pulled even when Carl Grundstrom scored from in tight to square the score at 2-2 at 4:36.
Washington regained the lead a few minutes later on a power play. Dubois won a left dot draw, pulling the puck to Ryan Leonard, who put it on a tee for Jakob Chychrun. Chychrun’s one-timer eluded Vladar’s glove at 6:58 to put the Caps back up, 3-2.
With less than three minutes remaining in the middle frame, the Washington power play restored the two-goal cushion when Dubois and Chychrun combined to set up Leonard’s rip from the inside of the right circle at 17:37, a shot that beat Vladar on the short side, over the glove.
Leonard’s goal gave the Caps multiple power-play goals in consecutive games for the first time this season, and the first time since they struck for five extra-man tallies in back-to-back games on Nov. 29-30, 2024.
But again, the Flyers answered in the first minute of the final frame, pulling to within a goal on a Dvorak goal 33 seconds into the third period.
Just over three minutes later, Ovechkin restored that two-goal lead with a diving finish of a sublime McMichael cross-crease feed at 3:47, giving Washington a 5-3 cushion.
Alas, Philly answered back yet again, trimming the lead to 5-4 on a Denver Barkey tip-in tally at 7:52.
A couple of minutes of 4-on-4 hockey didn’t change the score, but when the Flyers went on the power play with 3:47 left in regulation, another momentum swing was up for grabs. And with about 30 seconds left on the Philly man advantage, Vladar went to the bench to give the Flyers a 6-on-4 advantage. But the Caps held firm, and Wilson’s 27th goal of the season into the vacant cage delivered two desperately needed points to the Caps.
“Obviously, it’s a huge game,” says Ovechkin. “You can see I think everybody was on the same page, everybody set the tone right away – huge hits, huge plays.”
And the big man added to his NHL record for most game-winning goals, too; he now has 141 of those.
“He’s still got it, I guess,” says Wilson. “It’s incredible. It’s been so cool. I just continue to learn more and as a teammate, you’re inspired. Everybody in here sees what he is doing, and it drags everybody into the fight. He leads in so many different ways.”
That’s true of Wilson, too. In addition to his two goals and two hits, Wilson led all Washington forwards with 20:57 in ice time. And he joined Dale Hunter (Feb. 25, 1992) and John Carlson (Nov. 17, 2022) in becoming the third Washington player to celebrate their 900th career game with a pair of goals.
Tuesday’s triumph pulls the Caps to within a point of the Flyers, who entered the game with the NHL’s third best record since the Olympic break.
“They came out in the first 10, 12 [minutes] and tried to bully us,” says Flyers coach Rick Tocchet. “I thought after that, we started to get our game. But it’s good for some guys to understand that you’ve got to be ready to go.
“We had a game plan, and we were taking hits we shouldn’t have; we were in bad positions. We understood that, and then we started to come. I thought our 5-on-5 play was good, and obviously they won the special teams, and that was the difference in the game.”
The Caps head right back out on the road on Wednesday; they travel to New Jersey for a Thursday night date with the Devils in Newark. The Flyers return home to host Detroit on Thursday.
