Capitals score twice short-handed in 1st, top Flyers for 4th win in row

PHILADELPHIA -- Nic Dowd and Andrew Mangiapane each scored a short-handed goal in the first period, and the Washington Capitals won their fourth straight game, 4-1 against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday.

John Carlson and Jakob Chychrun also scored, and Connor McMichael had two assists for the Capitals (4-1-0). Charlie Lindgren made 17 saves.

"Tonight, it started with our penalty kill," Lindgren said. "We did a really good job of killing their time and space and then finding a way ... we got two penalty-kill goals tonight. When they're doing that, your penalty kill is doing things right."

Travis Sanheim scored for the Flyers (1-4-1), who lost their fifth straight game (0-4-1). Samuel Ersson made 25 saves.

Philadelphia, which lost 3-0 in its home opener on Saturday, has one goal in its past two games.

"I think that the biggest key is there's a frustration level," Flyers coach John Tortorella said. "They want to play well. They want to win a hockey game. They want to score a goal in the home building. You can't let the frustration turn into cheating. You can't forget about your structure as we're going through this.

“It's kind of doubled up because it's the start of the year and we're in this jam, so there's even more pressure. We just have to play the way we're supposed to play within our structure."

Dowd put Washington ahead 1-0 with a short-handed goal at 3:49 of the first period, and Mangiapane made it 2-0 at 15:07 with another goal on the penalty kill, scoring on the rush after a pass from McMichael.

It was the first time the Capitals scored multiple short-handed goals in a game since March 8, 2006, and the first time they scored multiple goals on the penalty kill in a period since March 23, 2000.

"I saw early on, both power plays from both sides struggle and give up chances short-handed," Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. "We were able to capitalize on two of them. Great finish by Dowd, that's not an easy finish, the way he pulls that across, and then 'Mang' to give us that two-goal cushion."

Mangiapane has goals in two straight games after the forward had one assist and four shots on goal in his first three. Mangiapane, who was acquired in a trade with the Calgary Flames on June 27, said he's still going through an adjustment period.

"I've never been traded, so I don't know the expectations and how it feels," he said. "The group of guys here have been making it easy for me for transitioning, and that goes with on and off the ice, with the management and the coaching staff, players, everyone just kind of helping out and lending a hand if I have any questions. So, they're making the transition a lot easier.

"I think it still kind of takes time and just building chemistry on the ice and knowing when guys want pucks, when they don't, kind of little plays, chips and just learning the system, things like that."

Carbery said he's liked what he's seen from Mangiapane and how he's helped his linemates, Jakub Vrana and Hendrix Lapierre.

"For me, the way he's playing and stabilizing that line, that's why I made the move to put him on that line after the first game of the season," Carbery said. "He plays in every situation, power play, penalty kill, and for him, especially when you come to a new team, I said this the other day, it helps when you score and get on the board.

“Those are big goals. It's not easy to score on a breakaway in this league. They get a couple of them, 'Chucky' makes big saves and to go down there in those situations, up one, you really need a second on the road, huge goal. Huge goal for Mang and happy for him."

Sanheim scored from the left circle 34 seconds into the third period to make it 2-1.

But Carlson put Washington ahead 3-1 at 1:38 with a goal from the left face-off circle.

"Obviously don't like giving one up right away after getting the momentum," Sanheim said. "Just an unfortunate bounce, goes off one of our guys' skates and in."

Philadelphia had a total of eight shots on goal in the second and third periods.

"There's a lot of guys in this room that are goal-scorers and we're going to get going here," Sanheim said. "I'm not worried about it."

Chychrun made it 4-1 at 14:07 with a one-timer from the high slot.

The teams will play at Capital One Arena in Washington on Wednesday.

NOTES: Carlson (two goals, four assists) and Strome (three goals, five assists) each extended his point streak to five games. ... Vrana's assist on Chychrun's goal was his 100th in the NHL. ... Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler had two shots on goal and two hits in 15:30 of ice time in his first game of the season. He had missed five games because of a nerve issue in his right leg sustained blocking a pass during a preseason game Oct. 1. ... Capitals forward Tom Wilson had his four-game season-opening goal and point streaks end.