The Washington Capitals ended their five game road trip with an impressive 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in their first contest played in front of fans. The Caps trailed 1-0 but went on to score three unanswered goals, some from unlikely heroes.
Joel Farabee put the Flyers up 1-0 with a goal at 11:04 of the first period. 1-0 was the score after one with the Flyers leading in shots 14-7.
The second period was when all the action happened. At 15:11, Zdeno Chara found T.J. Oshie. Oshie faked a shot and threaded the needle through traffic to find Alex Ovechkin right by the net. Ovechkin put it in for his eighth of the season and 714th goal of his career.
The Caps doubled their lead at 19:44 with Dmitry Orlov firing a shot right by the net for his second goal of the season. John Carlson and Jakub Vrana had the helpers. Orlov wasn’t the only unlikely hero to score in this game.
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The Caps took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission and led in shots 13-8.
In the third at 4:15, Nick Jensen would finally score his first goal as a Washington Capital. Oshie got the puck and passed it to Nicklas Backstrom who fed a cross ice pass to Jensen. Jensen fired it from the right face off circle to give the Caps a 3-1 lead.
Jensen told the media after the game via Samantha Pell of The Washington Post (subscription required):
"“I had it all day to take a shot. It was exciting. It’s been a while.”"
Caps head coach Peter Laviolette added:
"“I think he’s confident right now with his game. We’re really happy with the way he’s playing. He’s skating really well. He’s moving the puck. He’s doing the right things. . . . It was nice to see him, for all of the work that he does, get rewarded with a goal tonight. It was a beauty, too.”"
The Caps would hang on from there on out and 3-1 would be the final. The Caps were outshot 15-7 in the third and 37-27 overall but Ilya Samsonov had a solid start in goal making 36 saves. The Caps are 6-1-1 in their last eight games. The Caps finished their road trip with a 4-1-0 record with their only blemish coming Friday night in Boston.
The Caps will host the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night with the Caps wearing their reverse retro jerseys for the second time this season. Puck drop is at 7 on NBC Sports Washington and after that game follows another two more at Philadelphia.