Caps rout Flyers, 5-2
The Washington Capitals went into arch rival Philadelphia with a franchise best 5-0 starts. The Capitals made it is a 6-0 start.
Alexander Ovechkin woke up to the 2011 season scoring two goals on three shots to lift the Caps to a 5-2 win.
Philadelphia took the 1-0 lead on a Flyer goal by Claude Giroux at the 14:25 mark of the first period. However, Washington would go into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead. Mathieu Perreault, his first of the season, at the 18:40 mark to tie it up at 1-1. Perreault's marker was unassisted. A minute and eight seconds later, Alex Ovechkin scored his first of the night from a nifty pass by Nicklas Backstrom, to score to the right of Flyer goalies Ilya Bryzgalov. Caps took the 2-1 lead into the intermission. The Caps and Flyers tied it up on shots on goal, 11-11.
The Caps and Flyers skated to a scoreless second period. Philly out shot Washington 14-11 in the second period.
Washington poured the goals on in the third period, out scoring the Flyers 3-0. All three goals came within two and half minutes of each other. Roman Hamrlik pounded home a long bomb from Bryzgalov's right side, Courtney of an excellent screen in front. It was Hamrlik's first goal as a Washington Capital. The Hamrlik goal was assisted by Matt Hendricks and Mathieu Perreault. A minute and a half later, Alex Ovechkin struck for the second time of the night, off the Caps power play. It was Ovechkin's third goal of the season. Obie brought it home from the center,taking another pass from Backstrom to bury it past Bryzgalov. Dennis Wideman added an assist on the Ovechkin goal, extending his point streak to six games. Less than one minute later, Joel Ward struck for his first goal of the season, a deflection for a booming blue line shot from Jeff Schultz. Karl Alzmer grabbed the other assist. Philadelphia grabbed a late third period goal from Sean Couturier.
Washington got another outstanding, simply amazing performance from goalie Tomas Vokoun. He was magnificent again. Vokoun picked up his fifth strait win, stopping an impressive 39 of 41 shots on net.
Multi-Point Scorers:
Nicklas Backstrom, 2 assists Alex Ovechkin, 2 goals Mathieu Perreault, 1 goal, 1 assist
Player(s) of the Game: Alex Ovechkin and Tomas Vokoun
