POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Caps 6, Flyers 3

Six Pack Attack - On Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia, the Caps finished the road portion of their season's series against the Flyers. With a 6-3 win over their hosts, the Caps may have also finished Philadelphia's playoff hopes for the season.

Saturday marked the second time this week the Caps scored six goals against the Flyers; they defeated Philly 6-1 this past Tuesday in Washington.
John Carlson had a single-game career best four assists - three of them of the primary variety - in in Saturday's victory over the Flyers and Alex Ovechkin added a pair of power-play goals to pace the Caps' attack.
Washington's power play scored multiple goals in the game for the third time in the last four games and the fourth time in the last six contests. The Caps are 10-for-25 (40%) with the extra man in their last six games.
"We're all just working for each other and getting open," says Caps right wing T.J. Oshie of the Washington power play. "Teams play us differently based on how they want to cover [Ovechkin], and we've done a good job of making adjustments to that and exploiting other things. I think our puck retrievals and our battles when the puck's not on our stick has been really good, and when it has been we're been working it around and getting shots on net and second and third chances.
"It's nice when the power play is going. Even if we don't score, it brings some momentum to the team and we can build off that. It's fun to be out there with those guys for sure."
Ovechkin's first power-play goal gave the Caps a 1-0 lead early in the first, and they nearly took that lead to the room after an excellent first frame. But Ivan Provorov tied it with a point blast with one second on the clock, scoring on just the second even-strength shot on net the Flyers could muster in the first 20 minutes.
Dmitry Orlov got that one back for the Caps just 33 seconds into the second, and Washington led the rest of the way. Each time Philadelphia scored, the Caps answered back with one of their own in less than three minutes.
For just the second time in franchise history, the Caps have won four regular season games in the same campaign over the Flyers in Philadelphia. The previous occurrence was in 1993-94 when Washington outscored the Flyers by a combined 17-7 in a quartet of games played in Philly.
While the Flyers still hold mathematical hope of landing one of the four playoff berths available to East Division denizens, it's going to take some otherworldly play for them to reach the postseason. The Flyers have a dozen games remaining, and they can reach 70 points if they win all 12 of those contests. If fourth-place Boston were to play .500 hockey the rest of the way, the Bruins would finish at 68 points. Neither of those events is very likely.
You Like Apples? - With his four assists on Saturday, Carlson climbed into the scoring lead among defensemen with 42 points on the season (10 goals, 32 points) in 45 games. Carlson has 27 even-strength points to lead all NHL blueliners in that category as well.
"I think he's played really, really well," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of Carlson. "Four assists, that's a lot of assists but he's put up a lot of points. That's a tough thing to do on or just one night, but he certainly has the ability to do it with his skill set. He seemed on point tonight; the power play seemed on point.
"And with regard to the Norris [Trophy], I think that John probably gets mentioned and talked about in previous years as well as this year just by his ability to generate offense and play well defensively against other teams' top players. He certainly played well tonight. I think he's been right on point lately; and Orlov have been a good switch, a good pairing together. And offensively John seems to be really finding a gear here."
Carlson is just the fifth different defenseman ever to record as many as four assists in a game for the Capitals. Scott Stevens holds the record with five (on Dec. 6, 1987), and he had three games with at least four helpers while he was with Washington. Robert Picard did it twice, and Larry Murphy and Bob Rouse did it once each.
Carlson is the first Caps defenseman with four assists in a game in more than 30 years, since Rouse did it on Feb. 6, 1990.
Three Dimes Down - Caps winger Anthony Mantha closed out the scoring on Saturday with a long distance empty-net goal, his third goal in as many games since he was obtained from Detroit in a trade this past Monday.
Mantha is the fourth Capital ever to score in each of his first three games with the team, joining Guy Charron (1976-77), Peter Zezel (1990-91) and Sergei Berezin on that short list. No Caps player has ever scored in each of his first four games with the team.
The Great Eight - Ovechkin continued his recent hot spell with two goals on Saturday, giving him 16 goals in his last 20 games. With 730 goals for his career, Ovechkin is now just one goal shy of matching Hockey Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne for fifth place on the League's all-time list.
His two power-play goals against Philly leave Ovechkin just six extra-man markers shy of overtaking Hockey Hall of Famer Dave Andreychuk for the top spot on the NHL's all-time power-play goals ledger.
The Big Heat - Orlov's goal was his second in as many games and extends his point streak to four games (two goals, two assists). He now has seven goals in 40 games this season, matching his goal total from the previous two seasons combined (151 games).
Orlov is tied for 10th in the League among defensemen in goals. He is three goals shy of matching his career high of 10, established in 2017-18 and now has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his last 14 games.
Finally, Orlov now has seven goals in 31 career games against the Flyers, three more than he has against any other opponent in the League.
Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears hosted the Binghamton Devils on Saturday afternoon at Giant Center, and the Bears skated off with a 6-3 victory, their fourth in a row.
After the Bears fell down 1-0 early in the first, Brett Leason tied the game at 9:57 of the opening frame with his fifth goal of the season, getting help from Aliaksei Protas and Martin Fehervary.
Binghamton regained the lead in the first minute of the second, but Hershey wrested control of the contests from the Devils with a trio of tallies late in the middle frame. First, Shane Gerish tied the game at 2-2 with his fifth goal of the season at 15:20, Alex Alexeyev and Riley Sutter assisting. Just over three minutes later, Brian Pinho's sixth of the season put Hershey on top 3-2. Matt Moulson and Sutter earned the helpers on the go-ahead goal. In the final minutes of the frame, Fehervary scored his third of the season with help from Leason and Protas to give the Bears a 4-2 lead going into the third.
Cameron Schilling extended that advantage with his third goal of the season at 4:43 of the third, Philippe Maillet and Pinho assisting. After the Devils got one back late in the third, Pinho sealed the deal with a last-minute empty-net goal from Maillet and Reece Willcox.
Phoenix Copley made 23 saves in the Hershey nets to improve to 7-2-1 on the season. The 15-5-2-0 Bears are idle until Wednesday night when they visit Lehigh Valley.
By The Numbers -Carlson led the Caps with 22:01 in ice time … Ovechkin and Daniel Sprong led the Caps with five shots on net each; Ovechkin led the team with a dozen shot attempts … Nic Dowd led the Caps with five hits … Zdeno Chara led Washington with three blocked shots … Nicklas Backstrom won six of 10 face-offs (60%).