Caps Ride Swift Start to 5-3 Win

A dominant first 40 minutes was enough to earn the Caps their fifth straight win on Wednesday night in Philadelphia, a 5-3 win over the Flyers. After Washington opened up the offense with five unanswered goals before the game was halfway over, the desperate Flyers showed some fight with three unanswered goals of their own in the back half of the contest.

"I think our first two periods we played very well," says Caps captain Alex Ovechkin. "We put the puck deep, we put the pressure on their [defense]. One mistake and one good shot on net, and they had momentum. It's a good thing we get the lead 5-0, and then it's going to be hard for them to bounce back and tie the game."

Braden Holtby made 27 saves to earn his 25th win of the season, and the 250th of his NHL career. Playing in his 409th career game, Holtby became the second fastest goaltender in league history to reach the milestone; only Hockey Hall of Famer Ken Dryden (381 games) got there quicker.
After surrendering the game's first goal within four minutes of the opening puck drop in five straight games, Washington came out of the gates with one of its best starts of late, dominating the Flyers in the possession department, killing off the only penalty of the first frame and taking a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.
"I loved the way we started the game," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "That's been one of our weaknesses recently, playing from behind and coming back and figuring out ways to win games, but it's difficult to play hockey like that. It wears you down."

Tom Wilson started the scoring with his 19th goal of the season at 5:55 of the first. Dmitry Orlov made a good play at the left point, keeping the puck in the Philly zone by putting a one-timer on net. Although the Caps were outnumbered down low, Alex Ovechkin got the rebound, and as he was losing his balance he adroitly fed Wilson in the slot for the opening salvo.
In the back half of the first, the Caps doubled their lead with five-on-five rush goal from the third line, a goal that wasn't immediately evident. With an indirect cross-ice pass, Carl Hagelin sprung linemate Brett Connolly into the Philly zone in a one-on-one situation with a Flyers defender. Coming down the left side, the right-handed Connolly fired from the left circle, and his shot beat Philly goalie Brian Elliott, caromed off the net camera and came right back out, looking like a shot off the crossbar to the naked eye. Play continued, but during the next television timeout, another look revealed that Connolly had netted his 17th of the season.
The Caps took command of the game in the second period, scoring three goals on three shots in a span of just 3:05 before the first television timeout, and chasing Elliott to the bench in the process.

First, Ovechkin notched his 46th goal of the season on a Washington power play at 2:32, getting help from the usual suspects, Nicklas Backstrom (his 47th assist) and John Carlson (his 48th). Ovechkin's goal came from the office, but it wasn't a one-timer. He had enough time and space to settle it, dust it off, and beat Elliott to the glove side to make it a 3-0 game.
Andre Burakovsky was up next. From the Washington line, Orlov broke the puck out with an indirect backhand pass to Travis Boyd at the Philadelphia line. Boyd bumped it to Burakovsky, who ended Elliott's evening with a shot to the short side at 4:18. Elliott departed after being dented for four goals on 19 shots in 24:18 of work.
Cam Talbot came on in relief, and the Caps wasted little time in baptizing him. Nick Jensen sent Jakub Vrana up ice with a long stretch pass that the winger had to catch up to near the Flyers' goal line. Vrana carried around the back of the net and noted that of the three Flyers in the zone, none was in the same area code as Backstrom, who was gliding to the slot unimpeded. Vrana put it on his tape, and Backstrom beat Talbot high to the glove side, making it a 5-0 game at 5:37.
At that relatively early juncture of the contest, the Caps' had four five-on-five goals - one from each line - and Ovechkin's power-play marker.

"I think we gave them a little bit too much room," laments Flyers captain Claude Giroux. "Obviously they're a good team. They can make plays, but I think we could have played better defensively early on."
Washington's run of five unanswered goals ended in the final minute of the second when Giroux set up defenseman Phillippe Myers for the rookie defenseman's first NHL goal, which came off the rush with 11.3 seconds remaining in the period. That late goal sparked the Flyers, though.
Philly added another just 10 seconds into the third when Giroux converted a back door feed from Oskar Lindblom to make it a 5-2 game. When Scott Laughton tipped home Andre MacDonald's left point drive at 7:48, it was suddenly a two-goal game with more than 12 minutes left.
Reirden called his timeout at that point, and the Caps were able to successfully navigate their way through the final dozen minutes to win their fifth straight game and take sole possession of the top spot in the Metro standings.
"I was really happy with the beginning of the game was one of our stronger starts to a game in quite some time," says Reirden. "We really carried the play and were able to convert on our chances. I was happy with our leadership group making sure we were ready to go. We knew [the Flyers] would be a very desperate team tonight, needing points, and thinking about trying to catch us. So, it was a big win for us."