Flyers lose chance to close gap in loss to Caps

PHILADELPHIA – It was too big a hole to dig out of Wednesday night.

The Flyers were looking up out of a 5-0 deficit to the Washington Capitals when they decided to open their offense.

But by then, it was over.

Defenseman Andrew MacDonald (#47) of the Philadelphia Flyers gets nose-to-nose with Right Wing Tom Wilson (#43) of the Washington Capitals as Linesman Libor Suchanek (#60) and Linesman Tony Sericolo (#84) try to pull them apart.

The Flyers cored three goals to close within 5-3 but that was the final score.

Braden Holtby made 27 saves to get the win.

“I’ve been pretty fortunate to play on some good teams,” Holtby said. “Wins is a stat that is shared with your whole team, also a consistency thing with the regular season so it shows the commitment we’ve had in this organization and hopefully we can continue that.”

It was his 250th NHL victory.

Alex Ovechkin had a goal and two points in the win.

“I was really happy with the beginning of the game,” Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. “It was one of our stronger starts to a game in quite some time. We really carried the play and we were able to convert on our chances.”

Tom Wilson, Brett Connolly, Andre Burakovsky, and Nicklas Backstrom scored for the 5-0 lead.

“It’s always our goal to be up there,” Burakovsky said. “I think we’re finding the way we played last year the last couple games. I think mentally we’re starting to get ready for the (Stanley Cup) Playoffs.”

When the Flyers did get their offense going it was enough to get them energized.

“We watched them for two periods and then we started playing somewhat good hockey,” Scott Laughton said. “You can’t do that against a team like that. They’re too good, they’re too skilled. They were skating, making plays, walking right through us and we watched them play.”

Claude Giroux, Philippe Myers and Laughton scored for the Fluers.

“We gave them a little bit too much room (in the first two periods),” Giroux said. “They’re a good team, can make plays, but I think we could have played better defensively early on. … Third period was obviously our best period. We’ve got to make sure we play like that the whole game.”

[WATCH: All Capitals vs. Flyers highlights]

Brian Elliott got the start and was given the hook in the middle frame after yielding four goals and making just 15 saves.

“There’s obviously minimal room for error at this point for us. It’s obviously not realistic to say we’re going to win every single game,” Andrew MacDonald said after the game. “These divisional games are pretty important. It’s kind of a missed opportunity for us. Luckily we still have some games we can look forward to and they’re pretty important games.”

Cam Talbot made the same number of saves in relief.

Goalie Braden Holtby (#70), Defenseman Dmitry Orlov (#9) of the Washington Capitals and Center Sean Couturier (#14) of the Philadelphia Flyers

Center Travis Konecny (#11) of the Philadelphia Flyers celebrate a goal by teammate Scott Laughton (#21) against the Washington Capitals

Defenseman Brooks Orpik (#44) of the Washington Capitals is checked by Left Wing Michael Raffl (#12) of the Philadelphia Flyers

Center Lars Eller (#20) of the Washington Capitals

Center Claude Giroux (#28) of the Philadelphia Flyers scores againstGoalie Braden Holtby (#70) of the Washington Capitals in the third period.

Defenseman John Carlson (#74) of the Washington Capitals

Right Wing Tom Wilson (#43) of the Washington Capitals

Goalie Cam Talbot (#33) of the Philadelphia Flyers is scored upon by Center Nicklas Backstrom (#19) of the Washington Capitals

Philadelphia Flyers Center Sean Couturier (#14) and Defenseman Travis Sanheim (#6) , Washington Capitals Defenseman Nick Jensen (#3), Goalie Braden Holtby (#70), Right Wing Tom Wilson (#43) look for the incoming shot from the point.