Connor McMichael scored two goals in a 6-3 home win for the Washington Capitals (5-1-0) over the Philadelphia Flyers (1-5-1) at Capital One Arena on Wednesday night. With the victory, Washington pushes its winning streak up to five games with the back-to-back wins over Philly this week.
Washington played suffocating defense for the first half of the game establishing a 4-0 lead. Philadelphia rallied for three goals but never slipped the tying goals past Logan Thompson. Following three games over the last five days, Alex Ovechkin and friends will get a much-needed two-day break before a trip to Tampa Bay (4-2-0) on Saturday night.
Detailing the Washington Capitals 6-3 win
The Washington Capitals fourth line started the party in Washington on Wednesday with Taylor Raddysh’s goal five minutes into the game for the 1-0 lead. Linemate Nic Dowd also scored his second goal of the season early in the second period to double the Washington Captials’ lead, 2-0.
A few minutes later “The Connor McMichael Show” started featuring two goals in three minutes to catapult the Caps’ lead to 4-0. Connor McMichael slipped unnoticed behind a Philly line change and buried the breakaway behind Flyers goalie Ivan Fedotov. Washington was in firm control over the contest, however, undisciplined play allowed Philadelphia to attempt a comeback.
Pierre-Luc Dubois took a roughing penalty leading to a Travis Konecnky Power Play goal at 12:04. Philadelphia’s Owen Tippett pushed a puck past Washington goalie Logan Thompson a minute later to trip the advantage to 4-2 heading into the second intermission.
Dubois was booked for a tripping infraction in the third period leading to Matvei Michkov’s Power Play goal at 6:36. The Washington Capitals let Philadelphia get no closer than the 4-3 score before putting the game away with late empty net goals from Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Ovechkin.
Ovechkin is one step closer to #99
It was a brilliant decision for the coaching staff to slip Alexander Ovechkin on the ice in the dying seconds of a 5-3 game at home. As expected, after Philly’s bench boss John Tortorella pulled the netminder, Ovechkin tracked down a loose puck, turned on the jets like it was 2004, and slipped home the puck into what probably looked more like a soccer net to “The Great Eight”.
It is NHL goal number 855 for the 39-year-old forward. Ovechkin needs 39 more goals to tie Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL regular-season career scoring mark. The Washington Capitals captain finished last season with 31 goals which would place him within striking distance of the record next season.
A Look at the Metropolitan Standings
With regulation wins in both games of the home-and-home set with the Philadelphia Flyers, the Washington Capitals secured the maximum four standings points. The victories vault Washington up another spot in the Metropolitan Division from fourth to third place, the last guaranteed playoff spot from the division with 10 standings points. The Washington Capitals trail the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils with 11 points.
While it is way too soon to worry about the postseason a promised position without needing a win in the dying days would be welcomed with open arms by Spencer Carbury’s hockey club with the Washington Capitals eeking into the postseason last season.
Washington looks for their sixth straight win against former Southeast Division rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night. Tampa Bay is 4-2 on the early NHL season landing them in second place in the Atlantic Division behind the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers.
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