Photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

The Washington Capitals fell to the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 3-2 at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night, which ended their three-game winning streak. The loss kept the Capitals eight points ahead of the New York Islanders, who now have three games in hand on the Capitals, and Pittsburgh Penguins, who have two, for top spot in the Metropolitan Division. Goaltender Braden Holtby made 24 saves in the loss.

Capitals’ Lines at Flyers

#Caps‘ lines in PHI:
8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 43-Wilson
13-Vrana, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
62-Hagelin, 20-Eller, 14-Panik
28-Leipsic, 26-Dowd, 21-Hathaway

Defensemen
6-Kempny, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 3-Jensen
34-Siegenthaler, 33-Gudas

Holtby vs. Hart. #CapsFlyers

— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) January 9, 2020

The Capitals made no line changes from their 6-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night with the exception of the goalie.

First Period

After a turnover along the wall by defenseman Nick Jensen, center Sean Couturier fed forward Travis Konecny down low and he wristed one past Holtby to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead 3:24 into the contest. That marked the 11th time in the last 14 games that the Capitals gave up the first goal.

Center Nicklas Backstrom put one through the five-hole of goaltender Carter Hart from the left dot after forward Tom Wilson fed him from behind the net on the forecheck to tie the game at 7:11.

Backy snipe! pic.twitter.com/GNvLwPeWy0

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 9, 2020

Forward Jakub Vrana dragged and sniped one to the top corner off of a pass from center Evgeny Kuznetsov from behind the net once he got the puck on a rebound to make it 2-1 with 7:26 left in the first.

That Kuzy apple 😵and then the Vrana finish 🔥 pic.twitter.com/C6NYP6DoXV

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 9, 2020

Defenseman Robert Hagg teed one up after getting the puck off of the boards and beat Holtby by the blocker to tie it with 42 seconds remaining.

The Capitals led 10-6 in hits and 6-4 in blocked shots through 20 minutes. They did not have a power-play opportunity in the opening period.

The Flyers led 13-8 in shots, had one giveaway while the Capitals had five, won 69% of the draws, and went 0-for-1 on the power-play in the first.

Each team was credited with one takeaway in the period.

Second Period

After getting the puck along the end wall, center Kevin Hayes flew out of his own zone and beat Holtby on the backhand to make it 3-2 Flyers shorthanded with 2:01 left.

The Capitals led 19-16 in shots, including 11-3 in the second, and hits, 8-5 in blocked shots, and went 0-for-3 on the power-play through 40 minutes.

The Flyers had three giveaways while the Capitals had five, won 70% of the faceoffs, and didn’t convert on their lone opportunity on the man advantage through two periods.

Each team had one takeaway in the first two periods.

Third Period

The Capitals led 28-27 in shots, 25-22 in hits, and went 0-for-5 on the power-play.

The Flyers led 11-9 in third-period shots, 12-11 in blocked shots, 3-2 in takeaways, had four giveaways while the Capitals had seven, won 71% of the faceoffs, and went 0-for-2 on the man advantage.

The Capitals come home to host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. Action from Capital One Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington beginning at 7 PM ET.

By Harrison Brown