Caps Finish With Flourish in Philly

When the Caps embarked upon their longest road trip of the season a dozen days ago, they carried with them an anemic 2-6-2 road record and a five-game road losing streak (0-4-1), their longest since 2014-15. But with Wednesday night's 4-1 win over the Flyers in Philly, the Caps finished the trip with a flourish.

Washington won each of the last two games of the trip, doing so with eight players missing from the lineup each night, and in the process, the Caps come home for a quick stop with a 3-2-1 mark for the trip, and at NHL .500 (12-12-4) for the first time since Nov. 11. They'll also enter Friday night's home game against Seattle with a chance for a modest three-game winning streak, something they have yet to do this season.
Dylan Strome's deflection of a John Carlson shot/pass midway through the third snapped a 1-1 tie and stands up as the game-winning goal.
"it's nice to get the monkey off my back," says Strome of his first game-winner as a Capital. "I haven't scored in a while."
Caps captain Alex Ovechkin potted a pair of empty-net goals in the final two minutes of the game, goal Nos. 794 and 795 for his career. Ovechkin has shortened the distance between himself and Wayne Gretzky (894) to double digits; The Great Eight is now just 99 goals south of No. 99 on the NHL's all-time goals ledger.
"The Edmonton game was fast, quick and on point," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of the team's previous win two nights earlier. "This one was gutsy. It's been a grind; the travel and the late-night entries into the hotel. It's going to catch up with you at some point. And our guys just battled. I mean they really battled and competed, and they didn't give in, and it was a really, really good, gutsy team win."
The victory was a 58th birthday present for the Washington bench boss, whose team serenaded him with a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" in the locker room at night's end.
The game's first 23 minutes featured a six-pack of penalty calls, with the Caps getting four power play opportunities to two for Philly during that stretch. The Flyers jumped out to a 1-0 lead late in the first, scoring on the second of their man advantage opportunities of the evening.
After working the puck around the perimeter for a spell, Philly forward Kevin Hayes let a shot fly from center point, and the puck found its way through some traffic and past Caps goalie Charlie Lindgren for a 1-0 Flyers lead at 15:46 of the first frame.
Shortly after the Hayes goal, the Caps got their second look with the extra man, and then a third opportunity in the waning seconds of the frame. Washington finished the first down a goal and with only four shots on net, but it opened the second period with 110 seconds worth of power play time.
Again, the Caps didn't score on the carryover portion of that third power play, but Philly forward James van Riemsdyk hauled down Nick Jensen early in the second, giving the Caps a third consecutive power play in a span of 5 minutes and 48 seconds of playing time.
This time, the Caps cashed in to square the score. For the second time in as many games, T.J. Oshie scored on a one-timer from the bumper spot, and for the second time in as many games it was Strome teeing him up perfectly for the shot, tying the game at 1-1 at 3:51 of the middle frame.
Over the remainder of the second and the front half of the third, the two teams played nothing but 5-on-5 hockey, and both clubs continued to defend well. The game was mostly tight in terms of time and space, but there were pockets where it would open up a bit and some rush chances would materialize.
Starting his first set of consecutive games as a Capital, Lindgren built on an excellent outing in Edmonton, and he was likely even sharper tonight. In 120 minutes in the net in these last two starts, he has yielded just three goals, with only one of them coming at 5-on-5.
"Just like Edmonton, I thought our guys - forwards and defensemen - they did a great job in front of me," says Lindgren. "And when it looked like [the Flyers] had a chance all alone, someone would get their stick in at the last second and then swat it away. That just shows the battle level. It was just a gutsy performance by our team."
The Caps' fourth line of Aliaksei Protas, Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway conjured up the game-winner on Monday night in Edmonton, and that trio set the table for Strome's game-winner in the third, getting in on the forecheck and getting two-thirds of a line change. After a D-to-D exchange with partner Erik Gustafsson, Carlson put the puck toward the slot where Strome was cutting through with good body position on his check. Strome deftly deflected it past Philly goalie Carter Hart at 9:19, giving the Caps their first lead of the night, and one they would not relinquish.
Was Carlson putting the puck in a spot where Strome could tip it?
"More or less," says Carlson. "That's kind of a useless shot from where I was."
"I had a good feeling," says Strome. "We've done a couple of those this year where I kind of know when he is going to shoot it like that."
With 1:35 left, Ovechkin scored the first of his two goals; the second game with fewer than 10 seconds remaining in regulation. He is now five goals away from becoming just the third player in NHL history to score 800, he is six goals shy of tying the great Gordie Howe for second on the list, and seven away from holding second place to himself.
"Big two points," says Ovechkin. "And we move on. We have to collect the points. We're happy with how we ended an especially long road trip. Now go home, refresh our minds and stay with our families and move on."