Capitals Score 5 Straight Goals to Down Flyers 5-3, Chandler Stephenson Scores Twice

Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 Wednesday night at Capital One Arena. The win improves the Capitals record to 30-15-5 (65 points), good enough for best in the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals next travel to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins on Friday night. Puck drop is 7:00 PM.

The Flyers struck quickly with goals at the 1:18 and 7:50 marks to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Chandler Stephenson would quickly tie the game early in the second period with a pair of goals and Andre Burakovsky would add a power play goal to give the Caps a 3-2 lead at the second intermission. T.J. Oshie would add a power play goal and Devante Smith-Pelly would deflect a shot by Christian Djoos to make it 5-2 early in the third period. Jakub Voracek would add a tally for the Flyers midway through the final period, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Caps held on for the 5-3 win.

STARTERS
Braden Holtby (25-9-2, 2.66 GAA, .917 sv%) started in goal for the Capitals. Michal Neuvirth (5-6-1, 2.46 GAA, .918 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Flyers. The starting forwards and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Burakovsky-Backstrom-Oshie
Stephenson-Eller-Connolly
Chiasson-Beagle-DSP
Djoos-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Bowey

Scratches: Jakub Vrana and Taylor Chorney were the healthy scratches for the Capitals.

FIRST PERIOD
The Flyers opened the scoring just 1:18 into the opening frame with a 2-on-1 break away goal by rookie Nolan Patrick. The goal was scored on the Flyers first shot of the game.

The Flyers would add to their lead with a goal by Konecny at 7:50 of the first period, giving Philadelphia a 2-0 lead. Their second goal came on their 5th shot of the game.

The period would end with the Flyers leading 2-0. The Flyers outshot the Capitals 11-6 for the first 20 minutes of play. The Flyers won the faceoff battle 56-44% for the opening frame.

SECOND PERIOD
The Capitals would quickly tie the contest with two goals by Chandler Stephenson. The first would come on the end of a nice feed from Lars Eller at 2:14 of the middle frame.

47 seconds later, on his very next shift, Stephenson would tie the game with another front door goal.

The Capitals would take their first lead with a power play goal by Andre Burakovsky at 14:32 of the middle frame. Lars Eller was again credited with the primary assist.

The period would end with the Capitals leading 3-2. The Flyers led 12-11 in shots on goal for the middle frame and 23-17 after 40 minutes of play.

THIRD PERIOD
The Capitals would stretch their lead to 4-2 with a power play goal by T.J. Oshie at 5:28 of the final frame. This was Oshie’s first goal in 14 games.

Devante Smith-Pelly would make it 5-2 by deflecting a blast by Christian Djoos from the top of the right circle at 9:06 of the final frame. The Flyers would pull Michal Neuvirth after the fifth goal, and replace him with Alex Lyon.

The Flyers would try to claw back with a goal by Jakub Voracek at 10:40, making it 5-3. The Caps would hang on for the 5-3 win.

SHAVINGS

The Capitals have now allowed the first goal in eight straight games.
Tom Wilson has drawn six penalties in his last five games.
Chandler Stephenson scored two goals in a span of 47 seconds in the second period. That’s the quickest back-to-back goals scored by a player this season (previous: Alex Ovechkin, 2:31 at Ottawa, 10/5/17). Additionally, that was Stephenson’s first multi-goal game of his career.
Lars Eller recorded two assists, marking his fifth multi-point games of the season, which is the fifth-most on the team. That also tied Eller’s assist total from last season (13).
John Carlson recorded two assists. Carlson now has 33 assists on the season, which ranks third among NHL defensemen this season.
Madison Bowey recorded an assist, his 12th of the season, which is tied for fourth among rookie defensemen.
Tonight marked the sixth time this season the Capitals’ overcame a two-goal deficit.
Tonight’s attendance was 18,506, the Capitals 391st consecutive sellout at Capital One Arena.
NHL box score is here.

By Jon Sorensen
Follow @NoVa_Caps

SCENES FROM THE DISTRICT