Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images
The Washington Capitals defeated the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 4-1 at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night to climb back to .500 (12-12-4) and three points out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference but the Tampa Bay Lightning (who hold that position) have two games in hand on them.
Washington is 5-2-1 in their last eight games, including a 3-2-1 mark on their season-long six-game road trip. Goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 29 saves in the win.
Capitals’ Lines at Philadelphia
Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Conor Sheary
Sonny Milano — Evgeny Kuznetsov — T.J. Oshie
Marcus Johansson — Lars Eller — Anthony Mantha
Aliaksei Protas — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Erik Gustafsson — John Carlson
Trevor Van Riemsdyk — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev — Matt Irwin
Lindgren
Hunter Shepard
Scratched: LW Joe Snively, RW Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Injured: RW Connor Brown (ACL, missed 24th straight game, out indefinitely); D Dmitry Orlov (lower-body, 15th, day-to-day); LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 28th, indefinite); RW Tom Wilson (ACL, 28th, indefinite); C Nicklas Backstrom (hip, 28th, indefinite); LW Beck Malenstyn (finger, 17th, week-to-week); G Darcy Kuemper (lower-body, second, day-to-day); D Martin Fehervary (lower-body, second, day-to-day)
Irwin and Van Riemsdyk changed spots in the lineup after Monday’s 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers.
Philadelphia’s Lines
Kevin Hayes — Noah Cates — Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee — Morgan Frost — Owen Tippett
Scott Laughton — Lukas Sedlak — James Van Riemsdyk
Nicolas Daslauriers — Patrick Brown — Zack MacEwen
Ivan Provorov — Rasmus Ristolainen
Travis Sanheim — Justin Braun
Nick Seeler — Anthony DeAngelo
Carter Hart
Felix Sandstrom
Scratched: D Egor Zamula, C Max Willman
Injured: C Sean Couturier (back, 27th, indefinite); RW Cam Atkinson (upper body, 27th, indefinite); RW Wade Allison (hip/oblique, 13th, week-to-week); C Tanner Laczynski (upper-body, first, week-to-week)
First Period
Scoring
15:46, 1-0 Philadelphia (PPG): Hayes wristed one from out high to the blocker side of Lindgren after walking from along the blue line and deking.
🔥 Hayesy stays hot. 🔥#WSHvsPHI | #FueledByPhilly pic.twitter.com/DTcebaM6VV
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 8, 2022
Shots: 7-4 Philadelphia
Other Notable Stats: Philadelphia led 15-3 in hits and scored once on two power plays. Washington also got two opportunities.
Second Period
Scoring
3:51, 1-1 (PPG): Oshie one-timed one from the slot high glove on Hart after Strome played catch with Kuznetsov until dishing the puck to Oshie in the bumper spot from the half wall. It marks Oshie’s fifth goal of the season and his fourth power play goal. Oshie has now scored power play goals in consecutive games. Strome his 16th assist (tied with Kuznetsov for team lead) of the season. Strome ranks second on Washington in power-play points (two goals, 11 points) this season.
Equalizer! pic.twitter.com/tFJxoiTZF3
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 8, 2022
Shots: 16-15 Washington (12-8 in the second)
Other Notable Stats: Washington went one-for-four on the man advantage while Philadelphia was one-for-two. Philadelphia led 23-12 in hits, 15-7 in blocked shots, and earned two giveaways while Washington was on the board for seven.
Third Period
Scoring
9:19, 2-1 Washington: Strome tipped Carlson’s wrister past the blocker of Hart in the slot after Carlson got a cross ice feed at the top from Gustafsson.
DEFLECTION PERFECTION! pic.twitter.com/ZLPbyxia5f
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 8, 2022
18:25, 3-1 (ENG): Ovechkin wristed one from the half-wall after catching a stretch pass by Mantha from the defensive zone. It was the 37-year-old’s 794th career NHL goal, 50 of which coming with no goalie in net.
19:52, 4-1 (ENG): Ovechkin got behind the defense and skated in to backhand another into an empty net after Kuznetsov threw the puck up the ice.
Shots: 30-27 Philadelphia (15-11 in third)
Other Notable Stats: Philadelphia finished one-for-three on the power play in addition to leading 33-20 in hits and 22-9 in blocked shots. They also had four giveaways while Washington tallied eight. Washington led 9-3 in takeaways.
Next game: Friday vs. Seattle Kraken (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington+ in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)
By Harrison Brown
Good win. Last game of long roadie, pulled it out. Good road trip!
No doubt. Running on fumes, no doubt. Back to .500. 7 points out of 12. Bears repeating, Capitals have an easier schedule in the second half of the season. Just hang on.
Let’s go!
Great win!
Keep it going boys
Good win, sign Strome to a longer deal. Hope they can keep building on their play, getting in sync, and they can keep playing team D.
Score is misleading, it was a tighter game there for awhile. Torts led team is always a scrappy kind of game, glad the Caps could come out with the win
Way too tight of a game.