Capitals score nine, top Flyers to gain in Metropolitan, wild card races

WASHINGTON -- The Washington Capitals set a season high for goals and won their fourth straight game, 9-2 against the Philadelphia Flyers at Capital One Arena on Tuesday.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 46th goal of the season and had an assist, and Lars Eller scored twice for the Capitals (41-22-10). Conor Sheary, Garnet Hathaway, Johan Larsson and Matt Irwin each had a goal and an assist, Justin Schultz had three assists, and Ilya Samsonov made 19 saves.
Washington moved within three points of the Pittsburgh Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division and three points of the Boston Bruins for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"We'd love to move up the standings and chase higher," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "I think the bigger picture is to continue to try and play well. And so that's four games in a row where we've done the right things and made good decisions through the neutral zone and established an identity in the offensive zone and been pretty tight defensively."

James van Riemsdyk scored twice for the Flyers (23-39-11), who have lost three of four and have been eliminated from playoff contention. Carter Hart allowed three goals on 10 shots and did not play after the first period because of a lower-body injury. Martin Jones relieved him and made 21 saves.
"You don't give up nine goals by just one area of your game lacking, so there was a number of areas tonight," Philadelphia coach Mike Yeo said. "It's extremely disappointing, but the good news is we've got a chance to respond [Wednesday against the New York Rangers]."
Flyers forward Bobby Brink had an assist and played 14:27 in his NHL debut, three days after helping the University of Denver win the NCAA men's ice hockey championship.
"Definitely [wish] it could have been a little better with the result of the game," Brink said, "but it was definitely nice to play a game, and a dream come true."
Ovechkin gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 6:01 of the first period, banking his own rebound in off Hart for his 46th goal of the season.
T.J. Oshie made it 2-0 at 11:24 from near the left post when he used his skate to control a pass from John Carlson and knocked the puck in.
"It didn't matter who we were playing against, and that's very important for us going forward," Oshie said. "Guys know we have a new standard that we've set recently here that we have to live up to each night."

Van Riemsdyk pulled the Flyers within 2-1 at 12:00 on a breakaway.
Martin Fehervary extended the lead to 3-1 at 13:16 when he received a pass from Nic Dowd, deked around defenseman Ronnie Attard in the left face-off circle and slid a backhand between Hart's pads.
Eller made it 4-1 at 6:39 of the second period, scoring on a wrist shot from the left circle off a pass from Anthony Mantha on the rush.
"It appeared like we were ready to start," Yeo said. "It looked like we had good energy off the hop, and obviously turnovers fed their game and as they started to roll we didn't respond to it."
Sheary gave the Capitals a 5-1 lead at 15:30 when he was left alone in front of the crease, took a pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov and lifted a backhand past Jones.
Irwin made it 6-1 at 3:31 of the third period on slap shot from the point, his first goal since Dec. 6, 2018, for the Nashville Predators.
"I think [secondary scoring is] important any time of the year," Irwin said. "Obviously we rely heavily on our top guys every night, and they produce every night. For us to chip in, even if it was late goals, it always feels good. It was a great team effort."
Eller made it 7-1 at 5:59 on the rush, and Hathaway increased the lead to 8-1 at 12:42 on a deflection.
After van Riemsdyk cut it to 8-2 at 16:26 on the power play, Larsson made 9-2 at 17:32 with a power-play goal.

NOTES: Flyers forward Cam Atkinson, playing his 700th NHL game, left in the first period because of a lower-body injury. Yeo did not have an update on Hart or Atkinson after the game. … Philadelphia forward Kevin Hayes had an assist and has scored 18 points in 19 games (five goals, 13 assists) since returning March 5 after having surgery to drain fluid from his hip. … Van Riemsdyk reached 20 goals for the seventh time in his 13 NHL seasons. … The nine goals were the most for Washington since a 10-2 win against the Boston Bruins on March 3, 2008. … Ovechkin has seven points (four goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak and has scored 14 goals in his past 18 games. … Kuznetsov (two assists) has 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) in his past 18 games. … Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov (lower-body injury) did not play.