Logan Thompson made 23 saves and Trevor van Riemsdyk scored late in the third period to give the Washington Capitals a 3-1 win over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday.
The Capitals are 5-1-0 in their last six games, as their good form continued in their first game back after the NHL’s Olympic hiatus.
With the score tied 1-1 at 14:08 in the third period, Aliaksei Protas and Declan Chisholm set up a tic-tac-toe passing play finished by van Riemsdyk in the slot. It was van Riemsdyk’s second goal of the season, and just the 27th tally for the veteran defenseman over his 12 NHL seasons.
Protas earned an assist on van Riemsdyk’s marker and then collected his 20th goal by scoring an empty-netter with 26 seconds left in the third period. Rasmus Sandin scored Washington’s other goal.
Thompson celebrated his 29th birthday by stopping all but one of Philadelphia’s 24 shots. Thompson is 20-16-4 with a .913 save percentage over 40 starts this season.
The loss was another setback to Philadelphia’s fading playoff hopes. The Flyers have won just once (1-4-2) in their last seven games and are 3-9-4 in their last 16 games.
Noah Cates scored the Flyers’ only goal, and Dan Vladar stopped 26 of 28 shots.
Some early rust was apparent in both teams’ first game since Feb. 5. It took almost 34 minutes until the game’s first score, and both goalies made strong saves against the few quality offensive chances.
Sandin finally opened the scoring 13:52 into the second period. Hendrix Lapierre’s slick pass through the slot found Sandin entering into the circle, and the defenseman buried a well-placed shot for his third goal of the season.
The Flyers found the equalizer just 29 seconds into the third period. Cates ended his 18-game goal drought by tipping in Travis Sanheim’s long-range shot from the point.
After van Riemsdyk put Washington ahead, the Flyers gained a power-play chance in the final minute of play. The late push for the equalizer was quickly cut off by Protas’ short-handed goal into Philadelphia’s open net.
