John Carlson recorded his 500th career point as the Washington Capitals defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
The win keeps the Capitals (16-6-4) in second place behind the New York Islanders in the MassMutual East Division with 36 points. The Caps have a game in hand against New York.
Carlson’s milestone point came on a second-period goal off a feed from Jakob Vrana to give Washington a 3-1 lead.
“It’s a pretty cool achievement. I’ve been fortunate to have some great players around me my entire career, and it was nice to do it when we won,” Carlson said after the game.
For the second game in a row, the Capitals got out to an early and commanding lead. Alex Ovechkin scored an unassisted goal to give Washington a 1-0 lead.
The Flyers tied it on a Travis Konecny score at the 11:14 mark of the first.
Washington took command for the next 30 minutes. Connor Sheary scored his sixth of the season, followed by Carlson. By the time Nic Dowd beat two Philadelphia defenders for the first of his two goals on the night, the Caps had led 4-1 heading into the final period.
Philadelphia made a push in the third period, cutting the lead to 4-3 on Ivan Provorov and Scott Laughton’s goals. Still, unlike two nights ago against the New Jersey Devils, the Caps closed the game out in regulation. Nic Dowd scored his second goal of the game, an empty netter with less than a minute to go.
“I didn’t think we were that bad as the last game, but certainly the goal was to keep the puck out of your net, and we didn’t really do that, so keep on improving, fighting, and clawing for some ways to win,” Carlson said.
Washington coach Peter Laviolette was forced to juggle his lineup as center Lars Eller was not with the team, having gone home to tend to a family matter. Laviolette elected to dress Jonas Siegenthaler to serve as an extra defenseman and play with 11 forwards instead of 12. Siegenthaler played only one shift late in the game as Laviolette elected to keep the lineup as consistent as possible.
“This is nothing on Siggy at all,” Laviolette said. “We went in with a plan to play the 11 forwards and double shift people and keep the lines as familiar as we have the last couple of games.”
Laviolette’s decision stems from the fact that the lineup has now won eight of the last 10 games, rebounding after a four-game losing streak. Continuity is vital in a strong division.
“It’s really tight. Right now, there’s five teams with 600 or better winning percentages, and one of them won’t qualify, and so you’ve gotta realize that. You have to realize where you are in the standings,” Laviolette said. “Realize what you’re fighting for and just continue to push.”
The first-year coach with the Capitals said he was pleased with the effort, especially on defense after the near-collapse in New Jersey when the team blew a similar three-goal lead only to win in overtime.
“This one is really different for me from the other night,” he said. “The other night, the wheels were coming off quickly, and by the end, you’re hanging on by a lug nut. Tonight was totally different. They were able to capitalize on a couple of chances.
“There’s things we could have done better against their rush… From a defensive standpoint, we didn’t give up six or seven chances the entire night that were quality chances.”
The Capitals play the Flyers again Saturday night in Philadelphia.