Laughton hat trick lifts Flyers to win against Capitals

WASHINGTON -- Scott Laughton scored his first NHL hat trick to help the Philadelphia Flyers to a 7-4 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Sunday.

"It's been a little bit of a while," said Laughton, who played his 334th NHL game. "I don't know when my last one would have been, probably in junior, my last year (2013-14). ... It's just a good feeling to help contribute."
Sean Couturier scored two goals and had an assist in 15:54 after missing the previous 10 games with a rib injury; James van Riemsdyk had a goal and an assist; and Carter Hart made 33 saves for the Flyers (8-3-2), who won for the first time in three games.
"There's no doubt that [Couturier] is a difference maker, and he wanted to play today," Philadelphia coach Alain Vigneault said. "I talked about bringing him [along] gradually … and we were just going to feel it out to see how he was feeling and sensing his game. At the end, I just decided to play him more and more."

Alex Ovechkin scored two goals and had two assists, and Tom Wilson scored a goal and had his first three-assist NHL game for Washington (6-3-3), which has lost three in a row. Vitek Vanecek was pulled at 16:36 of the second period after allowing four goals on 14 shots, and Craig Anderson made six saves on eight shots in his Capitals debut.
"We let in too many goals tonight," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. "We scored enough to win. I thought we could have scored more. There was a few that didn't bounce our way. I don't think it was a barrage coming at us defensively, but they capitalized on the chances that they did get."
The Flyers and Capitals are scheduled to play here again Tuesday.
Couturier scored on a rebound 31 seconds into the third period to give the Flyers a 5-4 lead. Laughton made it 6-4 at 17:51 with his third of the game, and Couturier scored into an empty net at 18:38 for the 7-4 final.
"I felt great all game, from the start to the end," Couturier said.

Ovechkin gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 11:11 of the first period, and he set up Wilson's goal to make it 2-0 at 16:36. Ovechkin, on the rush, dropped the puck between his skates, pushed it through Flyers defenseman Philippe Myers, and passed across the slot to Wilson, who was charging the net.
"It definitely wasn't the start
had one shot on goal and one hit in 8:02 in his NHL debut. … It is the first time the Capitals have lost three straight games in regulation since a four-game losing streak from Jan. 14-20, 2019. ... In addition to Vrana, Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov and goalie Ilya Samsonov are on the COVID-19 protocol list.