Steve Mason, Flyers defeat Capitals in shootout

PHILADELPHIA -- Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds scored in the shootout to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-2 win against the Washington Capitals at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday.
Simmonds beat goalie Braden Holtby in the top of the fourth round, and then Flyers goalie Steve Mason stopped Justin Williams for his third save of the shootout for the victory.
Michael Raffl and Claude Giroux scored for Philadelphia (20-11-4), and Mason made 36 saves through overtime.
The Flyers won for the first time since their 10-game streak ended in a 3-1 loss at the Dallas Stars on Saturday. They lost to the Nashville Predators 2-1 in a shootout Monday.

"Good to get back in the win column," Mason said. "You go on a 10-game win streak and you can't let it slide. Two losses in a row there, you can't let it slide. That would counteract everything we'd done in the winning streak."
WATCH: All Capitals vs. Flyers highlights
Mason did his part to keep the Flyers in the game, including a kick save while lying on his stomach on a shot in close by Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen with 17.7 seconds remaining in overtime.
"He came across the net there and (it) was just a little scorpion kick," Mason said. "It was a desperation thing to take as much of the upper portion of the net away. I had a pretty good cover of the bottom of the net with my pants. I was just trying to take some of the vertical stuff away."
It was one of the unlucky bounces that Capitals coach Barry Trotz said was the difference in the game.
There was another just before Giroux scored to tie it 2-2 with 20.7 seconds left in the second period, when Evgeny Kuznetsov's clearing attempt off the boards bounced back into the slot.

"Bad bounce of the boards," Trotz said. "Hits a seam in the boards, bounces into the middle of the ice, Giroux gets it, and sticks it in the back of the net. … You try doing that a couple thousand times, it wouldn't happen."
Andre Burakovsky and Lars Eller each had a goal and an assist for the Capitals (19-8-4), and Holtby made 36 saves.

Burakovsky scored with 1:36 left in the first period to put Washington up 1-0. It was his first goal in 27 games and came in his return to the lineup after being scratched for three games.
"Was nice to get back in and finally get a goal again," he said. "It's been a while. It's about time. Think I played a really good game today. Had a lot of opportunities, skated good, really confident with the puck. Fun to be back in."
Raffl tied it 1-1 when he scored on a wraparound at 4:25 of the second period. He was first on a puck after a Radko Gudas shot missed the net. Holtby fell, giving Raffl an opening to stuff the puck inside the right post. The goal was upheld after video review showed the puck crossed the goal line.
Eller scored his first goal in 18 games to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 9:53 of the second.

The Capitals had a power play with 1:48 left in the third period that carried into overtime after Gudas was called for hooking against Tom Wilson.
"We had a chance to win it on the power play at the end, and then we had a chance to win it in the shootout," Trotz said. "We scored the first goal, got a save, didn't finish them off, and they were able to get back in it."

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Goal of the game

Simmonds beat Holtby over his glove for the deciding goal in the shootout. "Just go down slow, slow down, and make him make the first move," Simmonds said. "He went down, and I went up."

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Save of the game

Mason went to his right and flailed his glove to get a piece of a shot by Williams from the left faceoff dot off a cross-ice pass from Kuznetsov at 11:59 of the first period.

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Unsung performance of the game

The Flyers held the Capitals to one shot on goal and two shot attempts on their penalty kill that carried into overtime.

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Highlight of the game

Mason was down on the ice but got his left leg up to get a piece of Niskanen's shot late in overtime.

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They said it

"Just needed one more. One more. We got it, and [goalie Steve Mason] shut it down. As he did all night." -- Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds
"Was a good hockey game. Fun to play in. I think certainly we could have won it regulation, or they probably could have. Lot of good stuff out there tonight. Didn't come out on top." -- Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen

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Need to know

It was the first time in six games the Capitals didn't score a power-play goal. … The Flyers have killed off 16 straight penalties in their past six games. … Raffl's goal was his first point in six games. … Simmonds played in his 400th game with the Flyers.

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What's next

Capitals:Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, CSN-DC, SUN, NHL.TV)
Flyers: At the New Jersey Devils on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, TCN-PH, NHL.TV)