Holtby shutout lifts Capitals past Flyers in Game 1

WASHINGTON --Braden Holtby made 19 saves when the Washington Capitals shut out the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Verizon Center on Thursday.
Although Holtby didn't see a lot of work after the first period -- he faced eight shots in the final two -- he said he didn't have trouble concentrating on the rest of the game.

"You're just focused on stopping that next puck," Holtby said. "That's a mindset I've taken, and hopefully I can keep growing it."
Holtby's third NHL playoff shutout helped the Capitals take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. Game 2 is at Verizon Center on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CNBC, CBC, CSN-PH, CSN-DC, TVA Sports).
"He's been great all year," Capitals forward Jay Beagle said. "He's been standing on his head, winning us games and stealing us games. With a bunch of PKs, you have to rely on the goaltender quite a bit. He obviously stood on his head again tonight. We had momentum coming (out of) the first."

John Carlson scored a power-play goal at 16:21 of the second period. His slap shot from the point was deflected in by Flyers forward Chris VandeVelde in front of goalie Steve Mason. It was Carlson's seventh NHL playoff goal.
Beagle scored with 3:24 remaining in the game, a few seconds after Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere's interference penalty expired, to make it 2-0. Marcus Johansson stole the puck from Flyers forward Jakub Voracek, skated into the zone and passed to Beagle, who scored from the slot.
"Going into the series, we really hadn't played an emotional game for quite a while," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. "I figured that the first period would be real key for us to start to get our legs under us. I thought as the game went on we got better and better."
Mason made 29 saves for Philadelphia.

"It would have been nice to be able to capitalize, but at the end of the day, it's going to be a long series," Mason said. "I think we can put this one behind us, forget about it, and get ready for Game 2 here."
The first period was scoreless after the Flyers failed on three power-play opportunities. Washington trailed in shots on goal 11-8 but led in hits 17-10.
"The key to the win was the PK in the first period," Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom said. "If they score there, it's a totally different game. But we kept it together and then we started playing better 5-on-5 too. That's the way we have to do it this series."
The trend of penalties and power plays continued in the third period, with the Flyers giving the Capitals three power plays. Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds was assessed two minutes for roughing and five minutes for fighting Capitals forward Tom Wilson at 13:09. Wilson got two minutes for boarding Simmonds and five for fighting.

"We have to be a little bit more disciplined," Flyers defenseman Mark Streit said. "I thought we took too many penalties. I think that gave them a lot of momentum. The danger is on their PP and for the most part we did a pretty good job."
Flyers forward Sean Couturier left after a collision with Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin in the second period and did not return. He sustained an upper-body injury and will be re-evaluated Friday.
The momentum ended with the horn sounding tonight," Capitals forward Justin Williams said. "The next game's another game and so we go on."