In was no contest in Washington Sunday afternoon as the Philadelphia Flyers continued their skid with a 5-0 loss.
Philipp Grubauer made 24 for the shutout as Washington won its ninth straight game and now has 63 points, good for the top spot in the NHL.
“Honestly, we don’t really care about it, I think,” Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom said of the winning streak. “That’s maybe what’s different about it. Our goal is to get ourselves into the playoffs and we’re trying to win every game. We’re just playing good hockey right now, so hopefully we can continue with that.”
Justin Williams and Matt Niskanen each had two goals in the win and Andre Burakovsky added a marker.
The game was tight through two periods with the Flyers trailing 1-0 but Steve Mason, who got the start in the Philadelphia net, was given the hook the third period after yielding four goals on just seven third period shots. He had 12 saves for the Flyers for the game.
Michal Neuvirth made five stops as he came into the game in relief of Mason.
WATCH: All Flyers vs. Capitals highlights
“The first two periods we played excellent road periods,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “We didn’t give up much and had a little bit better of the chances. But it got away from us in five minutes at the start of the third period. It was about a five-minute span and it got away from us. We made one or two mistakes and they capitalized. We didn’t stop that momentum.”
The Flyers gave four goals in the third period before seven minutes of elapsed time had gone by.
“This one, it just kind of snowballed into a bad thing for them,” Williams said. “We scored a bunch of goals in a few minutes and all of a sudden it looks lopsided. I didn’t really care for our start. I thought we were kind of slow, not many shots. But our goalie seemed to be not letting anything in. it’s always nice.”
One good thing going for the Flyers is their bye week.
“It’s definitely a tough stretch right now. We’re not proud of the way things are going. We’ve kind of got to step back here and get away for a few days, which I think will be good at this point and time and just come back and reset,” Mason said of the break.
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