Caps thump Flyers

PHILADELPHIA – This is not the time of year to tread lightly and the Flyers did just that on Saturday afternoon in their match with the Washington Capitals.

The Caps doubled-up Philadelphia, 6-3, in their matinee tilt.

Alex Ovechkin had a pair of goals for the Caps.

“I thought we played a strong game,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said. “It was really good from the start. I thought everyone seemed to be on point. We were skating harder and competing much better and (had) sharper execution.”

Ilya Samsonov made 22 saves to earn the win for Washington.

Ivan Provorov, James van Riemsdyk and Wade Allison were the strikers for the Flyers.

Philadelphia dropped to 20-18-6, and are now four points back of the New York Rangers who defeated the New Jersey Devils in their own matinee.

“This year just consistency-wise, as far as building off things, we’ve seemed out of sync I feel like a lot of times,” van Riemsdyk said. “I don’t have any real answers as to why.”

Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov  and Dmitry Orlov  helped the Caps build a 4-2 lead in the game.

Orlov scored with seconds left in the middle frame.

“Scoring at the end of a period, in the last minute especially … usually gives your team a boost, a push, and to the contrary they had the push,” Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said. “They controlled most of the second period there. We were second on everything, second on pucks, second on making plays, and they were the far better team tonight.”

Conor Sheary  gave Washington a 5-3 lead in the third period.

“I think for the most part, up and down through the lineup, everyone played a pretty hard game today and you could see it by our puck possession, by our shots on net and by the goals on the board,” the Capitals’ T.J. Oshie said.

Anthony Mantha struck for empty-net goal, his third goal since being acquired for the Detroit Red Wings.

Alex Lyon made 35 saves in the loss.

“We put Alex in a real tough spot,” Vigneault said. “We didn’t play real well in front of him. Obviously, they’re a good team and they’re capable of making a lot of plays, but we spent far too much time in our zone defending.”