McMichael scores twice in 2nd, Capitals hold off Flyers for 5th win in row

WASHINGTON -- Connor McMichael scored twice in a 3:12 span in the second period, and the Washington Capitals held off the Philadelphia Flyers for their fifth straight win, 6-3 at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.

Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and two assists, and Alex Ovechkin scored for the Capitals (5-1-0), who also defeated the Flyers 4-1 in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Rasmus Sandin and Dylan McIlrath each had two assists, and Logan Thompson made 26 saves.

“This is the start you want, right?” Dubois said. “We’re probably not going to go 81-1, but you want to ride the waves as long as you can. It’s not perfect. … None of the games were perfect, but to find a way to win the games, that’s what the top teams do, and we want to get there. It’s a long season, there’s a lot to do, but these points are just as valuable as the points in March.”

Matvei Michkov and Owen Tippett each had a goal and an assist, and Jamie Drysdale had two assists for the Flyers (1-5-1), who have lost six straight. Ivan Fedotov made 20 saves.

“We showed some life. Started forechecking,” Philadelphia coach John Totorella said of the response after falling behind 4-0. “Just had a little bit more zone time. So, at least the second half of the game’s a step in the right direction.”

Michkov cut it to 4-3 at 6:36 of the third period, scoring on a wrist shot through traffic from the center point on a 4-on-3 power play.

"He's a pretty electric player when he has the puck, and he really makes things happen out there,” Drysdale said of Michkov. “He probably could have had three goals tonight, too. Heck of an offensive talent.”

Dubois scored into an empty net at 17:48 to make it 5-3, and Ovechkin also scored an empty-net goal at 18:50 for the 6-3 final.

“You’ve got to give our guys a lot of credit to be able to dig in there in the third period,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “It was touch and go. I just watched a wraparound at 4-3 that [Thompson] didn’t know the puck was over there and it hits his skate blade. So, a lot of dicey situations there protecting that lead, but we dug in and did enough to get two points against a team that was pretty desperate.”

Taylor Raddysh gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 4:50 of the first period when he redirected McIlrath’s shot from the right point past Fedotov.

Nic Dowd made it 2-0 at 2:49 of the second, receiving a pass from Sandin and scoring with a wrist shot from the slot.

McMichael extended it to 3-0 at 4:04, lifting a backhand over Fedotov’s left pad on a breakaway. He then pushed it to 4-0 at 7:16 on a redirection of Trevor van Riemsdyk’s shot.

“I like where his game’s at thus far this year,” Carbery said. “He’s playing at a real high level, making plays. Like that finish on the breakaway is huge for our team. He looks really good and I’m happy for him.”

Travis Konecny made it 4-1 at 12:04 when he lifted a shot over Thompson’s left shoulder from below the right circle for a power-play goal.

Tippett cut it to 4-2 at 16:16, shooting five-hole with a wrist shot from the left circle.

"There's always the, 'If we started a little earlier or gave one less goal up,' but at the end of the day, it's the result and you can just take the positives from it and build on it,” Tippett said.

NOTES: Ovechkin scored his 855th career goal, moving him within 39 of tying Wayne Gretzky for the NHL record (894). … Michkov (three goals, four assists) became the first Flyers rookie since James van Riemsdyk (one goal, six assists in 2009-10) to have at least seven points through his first seven NHL games. The only other teenage rookies to do so in Philadelphia history are Peter Zezel (two goals, six assists in 1984-85), Eric Lindros (four goals, three assists in 1992-93) and Rich Sutter (five goals, two assists in 1983-84). … Capitals forward Dylan Strome had an assist to extend his point streak to six games (three goals, six assists). ... Dubois' goal was his first since being acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings for goaltender Darcy Kuemper on June 19.