Capitals Down Flyers, 6-3; Connor McMichael Scores Twice, Nic Dowd Scores In Back-To-Back Games


Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals dropped the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-3 Wednesday night at Capital One Arena in Washington, sweeping the back-to-back, home-and-home set between the two teams. The victory is the fifth straight for the Capitals, improving their record to 5-1-0 on the season.

Taylor Raddysh scored his second goal of the season just 4:50 into the first period to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead, which they held into the first intermission.

Nic Dowd added to the Capitals lead less than three minutes into the middle frame and Connor McMichael tallied a little over a minute later to make it 3-0 early in the second period. A little over three minutes later Connor McMichael added his second tally of the game to make it 4-0.

The Flyers finally got on the board with a power play goal from Travis Konecny just past the midway point of the period to make it 4-1. The Flyers closed the gap to 4-2 late in the middle frame with a tally from Owen Tippett For a 4-2 game at the second break.

The Flyers closed the gap to 4-3 with 13:34 remaining in the game with a 4-on-3 tally from rookie Matvei Michkov. However that would be it for the Flyers comeback. The Capitals added empty net goals from Pierre-Luc Dubios and Alex Ovechkin to make it 6-3, the final.

LINEUP

Logan Thompson (2-0-0, 3.41 GAA, .877 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Capitals. Ivan Fedotov (0-2-0, 6.09 GAA, .818 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Flyers. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

Aliaksei Protas – Dylan Strome – Alex Ovechkin
Connor McMichael – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana – Hendrix Lapierre – Andrew Mangiapane
Brandon Duhaime – Nic Dowd – Taylor Raddysh

Jakob Chychrun – John Carlson
Martin Fehervary – Dylan McIlrath
Rasmus Sandin – Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Sonny Milano, Alexander Alexeyev, Matt Roy (lower body injury).

1ST PERIOD

The Capitals opened the scoring at 4:50 of the first frame on Taylor Raddysh’s second goal of the season. Dylan McIlrath (1) and Rasmus Sandin (1) had the helpers.

And that was it for the first frame. The Capitals led in 5-on-5 shot attempts, 17-6 and expected goals for .61 to .05.

2ND PERIOD

The Capitals stretched their lead to 2-0 on blast from Nic Dowd (2) at 2:49 of the middle frame. Rasmus Sandin (2), Aliaksei Protas (3) had the helpers.

A little over a minute later Connor McMichael (2) scored on a break away at 4:04 to make it 3-0. Pierre-Luc Dubois (3) and Dylan McIlrath (2) had the assists. The assist was Dubois’ 200th career NHL assists.

A little over three minutes later Connor McMichael (3) added his second tally of the game to make it 4-0. Trevor van Riemsdyk (3) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (4) had the helpers.

But the Flyers would battle back. The Flyers finally got on the board with a power play goal from Travis Konecny (3) at 12:04 of the second period. M. Michkov (4) and J. Drysdale (1) had the assists.

The Flyers closed the gap to 4-2 late in the middle frame with a tally from Owen Tippett (1) at 16:16. E. Zamula (2) and T. Foerster (1) had the assists.

The Capitals would hold the 4-2 lead into the second intermission. The Flyers led in 5-on-5 shot attempts, 26-10 in the second period and 31-27 after two periods. The Flyers led in 5-on-5 expected goals for 1.52 to .89

3RD PERIOD

The Flyers closed the gap to 4-3 with 13:34 remaining in the game with a 4-on-3 tally from rookie Matvei Michkov (3). O. Tippett (2) and J. Drysdale (2) had the assists.

Pierre- Luc Dubois and Alex Ovechkin added empty net goals to  make it 6-3. The Capitals would hold the lead for the victory, their fifth-straight victory since their opening night loss to the Devils.

SHAVINGS

  • Taylor Raddysh scored his second goal of the season 4:50 into the first period to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Washington has scored first in three of its six games this season.
  • Dylan McIlrath recorded the primary assist on Raddysh’s game-opening goal, marking his first point of the season.
  • Rasmus Sandin tallied his first assist of the season on Washington’s first goal. Capitals defensemen have combined for 13 points (3g, 10a) during the team’s current win streak.
  • Nic Dowd, who scored the game-opening goal in Washington’s 4-1 win over Philadelphia on Tuesday, scores his second goal of the season to extend the Capitals’ lead to 2-0.
  • Rasmus Sandin recorded his second assist of the game on Dowd’s goal. It marks Sandin’s ninth career multi-assist game and his first since Jan. 2, 2024 at Pittsburgh.
  • Connor McMichael scored his second goal of the season to make the score 3-0. McMichael extends his point streak to four games (2g-4a–6p) and now ranks second on the team in points (2g-5a–7p), trailing only Dylan Strome (8p).
  • Pierre-Luc Dubois recorded the primary assist on Washington’s third goal, marking his 200th career assist.
  • Dylan McIlrath tallied the secondary assist on Washington’s third goal. With two assists tonight, McIlrath has registered his first career multi-point game.
  • Connor McMichael scored his second goal of the period to extend Washington’s lead to 4-0. It marks McMichael’s third-straight multi-point game and his third career multi-goal game.
  • Alex Ovechkin scored his 855th career goal to make it 6-3. It marks Ovechkin’s 50th career goal against the Flyers, which is tied for the third most goals he has scored against a single franchise (55g in 73 GP vs. WPG; 50g in 81 GP vs. TBL; 50g in 90 GP vs. CAR).
  • Ovechkin becomes the fourth player since 1980-81 to score 50-plus goals against at least four franchises, joining Wayne Gretzky (5), Mario Lemieux (4) and Steve Yzerman (4).
  • With an assist on Ovechkin’s empty-net goal, Dylan Strome extended his season-opening point streak to six games (3g-6a-9p).
  • With a 6-3 win tonight, the Capitals improve to 5-1-0 to start the 2024-25 season. Washington’s five-game win streak matches their longest win streak from last season (11/10/23-11/22/23: 5-0-0).

About Jon Sorensen

Jon has been a Caps fan since day one, attending his first game at the Capital Centre in 1974. His interest in the Caps has grown over the decades and included time as a season ticket holder. He has been a journalist covering the team for 10+ years, primarily focusing on analysis, analytics and prospect development.





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