Mike Green sinks the Flyers in OT
It was the Mike Green show --- in Overtime! Mr. Overtime delivered again just 29 seconds into overtime to lift the Caps to a 3-2 win and send the Philadelphia Flyers home as losers.
Braden Holtby, making his first NHL start, stopped 23 of 25 shots to keep his perfect record in tact, now 2-0 in his young NHL career. Holtby made some sensational saves after giving up a first period and early second period goals.
Philadelphia started the scoring off with a nasty slapper by Nikolay Zherdev at the 9:51 mark to give the Flyers the early 1-0 lead. Eric Fehr nailed the equalizer at the 17:29 mark, assisted by John Erskine and Tyler Sloan. The first period ended, knotted at 1-1. Washington out shot Philly 14-6 in the first period.
The Flyers jumped out to a 2-1 lead on a Ville Leino tip in at the 4:04 mark of the second period. That lead would last a little over 4 minutes when Alexander Semin sent a wrist shot past Philadelphia's young goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. It was Semin's 9th goal of the season, taking the team lead from Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom assisted the Semin goal. The Caps again out shot the Flyers 12-11 in the second period.
The intensity on ice picked up in a scoreless third period. The Caps out Philly 11-8, but failed to score, despite a double minor in the final 4 minutes of the game. However, another Philadelphia penalty spilled over into overtime and sent the Caps on the power play. It took just 29 seconds for Mike Green to bring home the game winning tally. It was Greenie's 4th goal of the season and assisted by Backstrom and Mike Knuble.
The win improves the Caps to 10-4-0 overall and puts them atop the Eastern Conference with 20 standing points. They sit in a tie with Philadelphia, which earned one standing point for the overtime loss. The Capitals have now won 4 in a row.
Multi-Point Scorers:
Nicklas Backstrom, 2 assists
DCPSR Player(s) of the Game: Braden Holtby and Mike Green
Caps Streaks:
The Washington Capitals extend their winning streak to 4 games.
Alexander Semin extends his point streak to 4 games and extends his goal streak to 4 games.
Alex Ovechkin extends his point streak to 5 games. He extends his assists streak to 4 games.
Mike Green extends his points streak to 5 games. Green also extends his goal streak to 4 games.
