PHILADELPHIA — Nick Dowd and Andrew Mangiapane scored short goals in the first period, Charlie Lindgren made 17 saves and the Washington Capitals beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 on Tuesday night. Since losing in the opening game, they have won four consecutive games.
Alex Ovechkin came close to tying Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goalscoring record by 40 goals, but he went scoreless in one game. Ovechkin is playing in his 1,431st game, but he still has 854 career goals. Jakob Cishurun and John Carlson also scored for the Capitals.
Travis Sanheim scored for Philadelphia, which has lost its fifth straight game. The Flyers lost their home opener Saturday, 3-0, with a scoreless first two periods.
Just 3:49 into the game, Dowd scored with a high backhand shot past Sam Arson. Mangiapane’s wrister on Philadelphia’s power play resulted in a two-point lead with 4:53 left in the first inning. After Sanheim tied Philadelphia at 2-1 just 34 seconds into the third inning, Karlsson responded for Washington 64 seconds later.
Capitals: Tom Wilson cooled off after scoring in Washington’s first four games, but Washington continued its strong early season run.
Flyers: Flyers rookie Matvey Mitchkov, the No. 7 pick in the 2023 draft, faced fellow Russian Ovechkin, one of his idols, for the first time. Mitchkov assisted on Sanheim’s score.
Dylan McIras and Nick DesLauriers faced off in a heavyweight battle four and a half minutes into the bout. Both players took heavy hits, with Deslauriers suffering a cut below his left eye and McIras heading to the locker room after the game.
Dylan Strome, who led the Capitals with 67 points last season, assisted on Karlsson’s goal and has scored in every game this season. He has three goals and five assists.
The team completes a home-and-home in Washington on Wednesday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
