Washington Capitals Come Back In Third Period Again, Foil Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3; Alex Ovechkin Scores In Fourth Consecutive Game, 16 Away From Breaking NHL Record

Washington Capitals Come Back In Third Period Again, Foil Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3; Alex Ovechkin Scores In Fourth Consecutive Game, 16 Away From Breaking NHL Record

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Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals defeated the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 4-3 at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday to improve to 36-11-7 (.731 points percentage) this season. Washington has points in five straight games (3-0-2) and is 12-1-5 in their last 18. Goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 19 saves in the victory.

Washington’s Lines

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Aliaksei Protas —Pierre-Luc Dubois — Connor McMichael
Taylor Raddysh – Lars Eller — Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Andrew Mangiapane

Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Lindgren
Logan Thompson

  • Scratched
    • LW Jakub Vrana
    • D Dylan McIlrath
    • D Alexander Alexeyev
  • Injured
    • LW Sonny Milano (upper-body)
    • C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
    • RW T.J. Oshie (back)

Philadelphia’s Lines

Anthony Richard — Sean Couturier — Matvei Michkov
Scott Laughton — Rodrigo Abols — Travis Konecny
Tyson Foerster — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Nicolas Deslauriers — Jacob Gaucher — Garnet Hathaway

Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler — Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae — Erik Johnson

Ivan Fedotov
Sam Ersson

  • Scratched
    • LW Andrei Kuzmenko
    • LW Jakob Pelletier
  • Injured
    • C Ryan Poehling (upper-body)
    • D Egor Zamula (upper-body)
    • D Rasmus Ristolainen (upper-body)
    • RW Owen Tippett (upper-body)

Kuzmenko and Pelletier were both acquired in a trade with the Calgary Flames on January 30 but have yet to debut with the Flyers due to visa issues.

First Period

Scoring

  • 17:31, 1-0 Philadelphia: Michkov wristed a shot over the glove of Lindgren on a breakaway after Sanheim banked a stretch pass off of the half-wall to Michkov from the defensive zone.
  • 19:08, 1-1: Ovechkin one-timed a shot over the blocker of Fedotov from the right dot after Strome dropped a pass to Fehervary at the offensive blueline, Fehervary flew down the left half-wall, and Fehervary threw the puck to Ovechkin in the right dot from behind the goal line. Ovechkin scored in his fourth straight game and his 879th career NHL goal, 16 away from Wayne Gretzky’s record. The goal marked the first of his career against Fedotov, the 180th different goaltender Ovechkin has scored on in his career. Strome tallied his team-leading 37th assist of the season and extended his point streak to five games (3-3-6). Ovechkin recorded his 34th career four-game goal streak and tied Mario Lemieux for the most in NHL history. Since Ovechkin entered the NHL in 2005-06, he’s scored against nearly half of all the goaltenders that have played at least one game (180 of 369; .49). Overall, Ovechkin has scored against .83 of the goaltenders he has played against (180 of 216). Strome has recorded an assist in all three games against Philadelphia this season.

Stats

  • 7-7 in shots
  • .706 Philadelphia on faceoffs
  • Each team had one power play in the first
  • 8-3 Philadelphia in hits
  • 5-3 Philadelphia in blocked shots
  • 7-4 Philadelphia in giveaways
Graphs: Natural StatTrick

Second Period

Scoring

  • 4:17, 2-1 Washington: McMichael tipped in Protas’ shot pass from the left dot over the blocker of Fedotov after dropping the puck for Protas and driving the net. McMichael (19 goals in 54 games) established a new single-season career high in goals in 26 fewer games (previously 2023-24: 18 in 80). Protas (24 in 54) set a new single-season career high in assists (previously 2023-24: 23 in 78).
  • 7:23, 2-2 (PPG): Andrae blasted a slapshot from up top after executing a give-and-go with Konecny, who was along the left half-wall, and Frost tipped the puck over the blocker of Lindgren and in.
  • 11:18, 3-2 Philadelphia: Michkov tapped in Abols’ slap pass from the slot after he dropped a feed to Drysdale in the left dot and Drysdale fed Abols.

Stats

  • 13-11 Philadelphia in shots
    • including 6-4 in the second
  • .576 Philadelphia on faceoffs
  • Both teams had two power plays in the first 40 minutes
    • Philadelphia scored on one of theirs
  • 15-4 Philadelphia in hits
  • 8-6 Philadelphia in blocked shots
  • 9-9 in giveaways

Third Period

Scoring

  • 6:23, 3-3: Eller ripped a wrist shot over the glove, off the right post, and in from the slot after Raddysh kept the puck in the offensive zone off of a Flyers’ clearing attempt and chipped it ahead to Eller from the blueline. The Capitals became the only team in the NHL to have 10 players with at least 10 goals after Eller joined the club on Thursday.
  • 12:05, 4-3 Washington: Chychrun wristed one over the blocker of Fedotov from the low left dot to finish a triangulation passing play after getting a feed by Carlson from the right point and Raddysh sent the puck to Carlson from the other point. Raddysh earned his second assist of the period. It marks Raddysh’s second multi-point game of the season and the 16th of his career. Chychrun’s 14 goals rank third among NHL defensemen. They also set a record in goals by a Capitals blueliner in their first season with the organization. Carlson extended his point and assist streaks to five games (five assists). Carlson, Washington’s all-time leader in assists by a defenseman, has reached the 30-assist mark for the 10th time in his career.

Stats

  • 22-18 Philadelphia in shots
    • including 9-7 in the third
  • .596 Philadelphia on faceoffs
  • 25-9 Philadelphia in hits
  • 13-10 Washington in blocked shots
  • 17-14 Philadelphia in giveaways

Washington, who improved to 19-7-2 on the road this season and rank second in the NHL in road wins (Minnesota Wild: 20), extended their lead to 11 points over the Carolina Hurricanes for first place in the Metropolitan Division and will have a game in hand on Carolina after Thursday night’s NHL slate completes.

Next game: Sunday vs. Utah (12:30 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)

By Harrison Brown

About Harrison Brown

Harrison is a diehard Caps fan and a hockey fanatic with a passion for sports writing. He attended his first game at age 8 and has been a season ticket holder since the 2010-2011 season. His fondest Caps memory was watching the Capitals hoist the Stanley Cup in Las Vegas. In his spare time, he enjoys travel, photography, and hanging out with his two dogs. Follow Harrison on Twitter @HarrisonB927077

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