Capitals ride power play to big win against Flyers

PHILADELPHIA -- Alex Ovechkin had two goals and an assist, and the Washington Capitals defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 6-1 in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference First Round series at Wells Fargo Center on Monday.
The Capitals scored five power-play goals, the most in their history in a Stanley Cup Playoff game. They were 5-for-9 and are 8-for-17 with the man-advantage in the series.

"Our power play has confidence, and they keep giving us lots of practice," Washington coach Barry Trotz said. "We just did what we did. We stayed to our game plan and script, and we took their best punch."
The Capitals lead the best-of-7 series 3-0. Game 4 will be in Philadelphia on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports, CSN-DC, CSN-PH).
It's the first time the Capitals have led a series 3-0; they lost in Game 3 the seven previous times they went up 2-0.
But Washington defenseman John Carlson said, "[It means] nothing unless we win."
Carlson had a goal and two assists, and Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jay Beagle scored for the Capitals. Braden Holtby made 31 saves and had an assist.
Washington defenseman Brooks Orpik left the game with 8:01 left in the second period because of an upper-body injury after being hit into the boards by Philadelphia forward Ryan White.

Trotz said Orpik would be re-evaluated Tuesday.
Michael Raffl scored for Philadelphia, and Steve Mason made 21 saves. The Flyers went 0-for-5 on the power play; they are 0-for-13 in the series.
Ovechkin's goal at 8:50 of the second period was the game-winner, but Kuznetsov's goal 1:58 into the third was the difference-maker.
Justin Williams' shot from the right side of the Flyers zone bounced off the glass to Mason, but the puck fell out of his glove. Kuznetsov pounced on it, made a quick deke and scored.
"I thought it was a real pivotal goal," Trotz said. "We were at the end of the power play there. We rimmed it in, popped out in front. Kuznetsov got in on the puck and scored. I did, I felt it was a big momentum change at that point."

The Flyers also felt it was a key moment in the game, one from which they were unable to recover.
"The third goal-against, the way it happened, the first time it's happened to us in a while, it took the wind out of our sails," Philadelphia coach Dave Hakstol said.
The Capitals scored three more power-play goals after Kuznetsov's, including Ovechkin's second of the night and third of the series at 14:58 of the third.
Ovechkin has 74 points in 75 career NHL postseason games, the most in Capitals history. Dale Hunter had 72.
Ovechkin said he is more pleased by how Washington is playing.

"It's a great feeling [being up 3-0]," he said. "We knew this game was going to be hard and we had to manage the puck well after we got the lead. I think they made a push in the end of the second, but they hit the post ... but we stuck together and we managed the puck into the third. And then the lucky bounce and we get the third one, and then everyone on the bench knew they didn't have any chance to come back in this game. We played solid, didn't make any mistakes. It's huge for us."
The Flyers held a pregame ceremony to honor founding owner and chairman Ed Snider, who died April 11. Game 3 was Philadelphia's first home game since his death.
After a video celebrating Snider's life and a moment of silence, anthemist Lauren Hart sang "God Bless America" with a video of Kate Smith singing from the 1970s. Hart was wearing a No. 67 Flyers jersey with Snider's name on the back.
The Flyers took their first lead of the series 57 seconds into the game when Raffl cut through the slot, stopped a Brandon Manning shot with his skate, held off Orpik and shot the puck under Holtby.

But the Capitals responded at 4:43 of the first when Johansson tipped a Carlson shot past Mason for a power-play goal.
"It was a huge response," Ovechkin said. "We knew they were going to come out hard. They have a special moment; a tough moment for them. We tried to handle it, and I think we managed it and we scored on the power play. Obviously, we feel pretty good."
The Capitals players said they feel the fourth game will be the hardest to win.
The Flyers don't plan on being an easy out.
"We're not going away," Hakstol said. "We're going to pick up and go back to work tomorrow like we always do, like we have all year long. And get ready to go out and win a game two nights from now."