5 THINGS: Flyers vs. Capitals

In the front end of a home-and-home set, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (16-18-7) will host Peter Laviolette's Washington Capitals (23-14-6) at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday evening. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET.

GAME NOTES
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the third of four meetings between the teams this season, and the second and final game in Philadelphia. The Flyers are 0-1-1 in the season series with the Capitals to date. On Nov. 23 at Capital One Arena, the Capitals prevailed in overtime, 4-3. On Dec7 at the Wells Fargo Center, Washington skated to a 4-1 win.
Here are five things to watch in Wednesday's game.
1. Looking for six-of-seven.
The Flyers have won five of the six games they have played since the NHL's leaguewide holiday break (Dec. 24 to 26). They will aim to make it six wins in seven games when they face off against Washington.
On Monday, the Flyers earned a 4-0 road victory against the Buffalo Sabres. It was the Flyers' first shutout win of the season, and it came at the expense of what had been the NHL's highest-scoring team (averaging 4.00 goals per game) heading into the match. Playing in his fifth career NHL game, rookie Samuel Ersson notched a 28-save shutout.
For the first time all season, the Flyers scored three times in the first period. In a dominating opening stanza, tallies by Zack MacEwen (4th), Joel Farabee (9th) and Noah Cates (5th) built a 3-0 lead. Travis Konecny earned two assists in the period, and Farabee chipped in an assist as well as his goal.
The second period was scoreless. The Flyers had early control but the Sabres started to take over the game with ever-increasing volume and danger of chances. Early in the third period, the Flyers made it 4-0. Wade Allison (5th) scored on a set play off an offensive zone faceoff. That closed out the scoring.
In total, the Flyers received goals from three of their four forward lines. The team's fourth line trio of Nicolas Deslauriers, Patrick Brown and MacEwen has scored a goal in each of the last two games.
Also of note: The Sabres entered the game with an eye-popping 31 percent success rate at home on the power play this season. The Flyers' stayed out of the penalty box entirely until late in the third period. They went 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
Balanced scoring, excellent goaltending and playing with discipline: That's a blueprint for winning against any opponent. The Flyers will work for a similar process -- minus the 10-to-12-minute second period lull they hit on Monday -- against Washington.
Morgan Frost's line was quiet offensively in the Buffalo game. Frost made three separate strong defensive plays to aid the cause, did not turn over any pucks (after having two costly turnovers against Toronto the previous night), won five of seven faceoffs, and was credited with a hit and a takeaway in the game. James van Riemsdyk, playing in his 900th career NHL regular season game, had a power play deflection near the crease. Owen Tippett posted three shots on goal including two in PP2 duty. None ultimately joined in the scoring barrage.
Eight of the other nine forwards in the Flyers lineup on Monday were credited with at least one point on the night. Scott Laughton, who was not credited with an assist on the play, took an offensive zone faceoff in the third period that triggered a set play with Kevin Hayes setting up Allison for Philadelphia's final goal.
Even with the Flyers having had an off-day on Tuesday, the team is still playing for the third time in four nights. Energy management is critical, especially against a Washington club that can burn an opponent that gets caught on a long shift or gets scrambled on a bad line change.
2. Konecny's point streak: the smaller and bigger pictures.
Flyers right winger Travis Konecny brings the NHL's longest active point streak into this game. TK has posted at least one point in nine consecutive games. In that span, he has produced 17 points (9g, 8a). In the bigger picture, Konecny has been a model of offensive consistency. He has produced at least one point in 12 of his last 13 games (11g, 10a) and 23 of his last 26 games (17g, 18a) dating back to Nov. 2. For the season, Konecny leads the Flyers with 43 points (21g, 22a) despite missing six of the first 41 games of the season due to an upper-body injury.
In the meantime, Joe Farabee (9g, 14a, 23 points) has started to heat up as of late for the Flyers. He has scored a goal in three of the last four games. Farabee had an inconsistent first half of the 2022-23 regular season. Getting a consistently strong second half from players like Farabee, Frost, TIppett, Cates and young defenseman Cam York would go a long way toward brightening the bigger-picture outlook for the Flyers beyond this season.
3. Situational play.
The Flyers are minus-5 as a team in their 5-on-5 goal differential (76 GF to 81 GA), while the Capitals (91 GF to 77 GA) are plus-14. On the power play, where the Flyers have periodically shown signs of improvement only to fall back into struggles to gain entries and get set up, Philadelphia ranks 30th in the NHL at 15.7 percent (19-for-121). Over the last two games, the Flyers have coughed up three opposing shorthanded scoring chances and one shorthanded goal (4 SHGA for the season). The Washington penalty kill enters at a solid 81.7 percent for the season (ranked 9th). Opponents have gone 22-for-120 on power plays against the Caps, and Washington has scored four shorthanded goals this season including a pair by Conor Sheary.
In the 18-game span dating back to Dec. 1, the Flyers have gone 18.4 percent on the power play (9-for-49). It's an improving trend overall but still only good enough for 24th in the NHL in that span. Additionally, three of the four opposing shorthanded goals the Flyers have allowed this season have happened in December/January.
Washington's power play, which has been one of the team's biggest weapons for the last decade, ranks in the middle of the NHL pack this year: 30-for-136 (22.1 percent), ranking 16th. However, the team was riddled with key injuries for much of the first half of the season. Dating back to Dec. 1 (a 19-game span), the Capitals clock into this game at a 25.0 percent success rate (13-for-52). In short, the team has been trending up over the five-plus weeks. The power play is just one reason why Washington is 13-3-3 in its last 19 games, but it's a telling factor.
The Flyers' penalty kill enters this game ranked 19th in the NHL for the season: opponents are 30-for-123, giving Philly a 75.6 percent success rate. However, the Flyers are still tied for the NHL lead in shorthanded goals with seven (three for Laughton, two for Konecny and one apiece for Cates and defenseman Travis Sanheim). Dating back to Dec. 1, the Flyers
"Flyers Daily" podcast host Jason Myrtetus ran some key overall statistics for the Flyers, comparing the season's first 20 games with games 21 to 41. The results are embedded below:

In a nutshell: Albeit gradually with a lot of room for further improvement, there are signs of improvements over the course of Philly's season to date. Over the team's last 20 games, the club has improved in puck possession (44.0 Corsi from games 1 to 20, 50.3 percent from games 21 to 41), scored 14 more goals in Quarter 2 vs. Quarter 1 while allowing three more goals in the same span. The team was 10-for-67 on the power play in the first quarter of the schedule and 9-for-54 in the second quarter. Faceoffs have improved modestly (44.6 percent to 47.5 percent).
4. Flyers line play: Hart Starts, Same Lines.
Following an off day on Tuesday, the Flyers held an optional morning skate at the FTC in Voorhees on Wednesday. The Capitals did not hold a skate at the Wells Fargo Center.
Despite Ersson's brilliant performance on Monday, Carter Hart will return to the net to start this game. The team is sticking with its original goalie rotation plan heading into the 3-in-4 slate against Toronto (Hart), Buffalo (Ersson), and the Capitals (Hart).
The club will also hold to with the same starting forward line combinations and defense pairs it has featured regularly of late. Kieffer Bellows and Justin Braun are the extras.
The projected lineup (subject to change)
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Washington Capitals
With 52 points, the Capitals are currently in fourth place in the Metro Division. If the 2022-23 season ended today, Washington would be the upper wildcard seed in the Eastern Conference and play the Metro-leading Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal round.
However, the Caps are setting their sights higher in the standings. Washington has points in nine of their last 10 games (7-1-2) and the club, as noted above, is 13-3-3 dating back to the start of December. Within the last week, the team has also gotten back into the lineup two key players who'd previously missed the entire season while rehabbing from respective off-season surgeries: veteran playmaking center Nicklas Bäckström and controversial but highly effective power forward Tom Wilson.
Washington enters this game coming off a 1-0 home win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday. The lone goal for either team was scored by former Flyers defenseman Erik Gustafsson (7th goal of the season) at 2:43 of the first period. Darcy Kuemper was the biggest standout in the game, earning a 38-save shutout. The Capitals produced just 11 shots on goal over the final 40 minutes of play, but Kuemper made the 1-0 lead hold up the rest of the game.
Entering this game, future Hockey Hall of Fame shoo-in Alex Ovechkin leads the veteran-oriented Capitals roster with 29 goals and 48 points in 43 games played. He's followed by Evgeny Kuznetsov (8g, 30a, 38 points), Dylan Strome (8g, 23a, 31 points), Sheary (11g, 17a. 28 points), Gustafsson (25 points), Anthony Mantha (9g, 14a, 23 points), Marcus Johansson (10g, 10a, 20 points) and Sonny Milano (7g, 12a, 19 points).
There is still a vital player missing from the Washington lineup: veteran offensive defenseman John Carlson (8g, 13a, 21 points in 30 games this season). Carlson, injured on Dec. 23 against Winnipeg when he took a slap shot to the head, was placed on long-term injured reserve on Jan. 3. He will be out "months not weeks" and the hope is that he can return late in the regular season or the postseason.
Injuries have limited veteran T.J. Oshie (a longtime Flyer-killer in his own right) to 26 games played this season. Currently healthy, Oshie has posted seven goals and 13 points overall this season. He has three points (1g, 2a) in the two games played against the Flyers to date.
In 26 games played this season, Kuemper has posted a 12-9-4 record, 2.45 goals against average, .920 save percentage and four shutouts. Charlie Lindgren has appeared in 19 games, going 11-5-2 with a 2.60 GAA and .912 save percentage.
With Bäckström and Wison joining the lineup in the Capitals' last game, Mantha and former Flyers forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel (14 games played, 2 goals, six points since being claimed off waivers from Toronto) sat out as healthy scratches.
Although the Capitals' injury list isn't nearly as extensive as it was earlier this season, the team still has a few players unavailable in addition to Carlson. Connor Brown and veteran Carl Hagelin both remain on IR.
Capitals defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk, the younger brother Philly's James, is set to play in his 500th career NHL regular season game: two nights after JVR hit the 900-game milestone.
Projected lineup (based on last game, subject to change)
8 Alex Ovechkin - 19 Nicklas Bäckström - 73 Conor Sheary
17 Dylan Strome - 92 Evgeny Kuznetsov - 43 Tom Wilson
15 Sonny Milano - 20 Lars Eller - 77 T.J. Oshie
9 Marcus Johansson - 26 Nic Dowd - 21 Garnet Hathaway
56 Erik Gustafsson - 57 Trevor van Riemsdyk
9 Dmitry Orlov - 3 Nick Jensen
27 Alexander Alexeyev - 42 Martin Fehervary
35 Darcy Kuemper
79 Charlie Lindgren