Flyers 4, Capitals 1: Simon Gagne snapped a 28-game goalless streak by scoring in his first contest after being re-acquired by Philadelphia as the host Flyers breezed past Washington.
Captain Claude Giroux collected a goal and an assist, Wayne Simmonds and Maxime Talbot also scored and Scott Hartnell added a pair of assists for Philadelphia. Ilya Bryzgalov, who finished with 23 saves, saw his bid for his 31st career shutout (and second of the season) end after Joel Ward scored with 2:09 remaining in the third period.
The Flyers got the early jump on the Capitals after Hartnell backhanded a centering feed from his knees to Giroux, who tapped the puck into the open net. Giroux, who picked up an assist on Simmonds' goal nearly four minutes later, has four goals and eight assists on a six-game point streak.
Philadelphia extended its lead to 3-0 after Daniel Briere backhanded a centering feed to Brayden Schenn, who deftly shuffled the puck to an open Gagne on the doorstep. The two-time All-Star made no mistake to record his first goal in 2013 after posting just five assists in 11 games with Los Angeles.
Talbot's tally with 5:05 remaining in the second period chased Braden Holtby, who yielded four goals on 18 shots. With Michal Neuvirth ill, Philipp Grubauer made his NHL debut and finished with 14 saves mere hours after being recalled from Hershey of the American Hockey League.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Jakub Voracek, who was named the NHL's First Star of the Week, saw his six-game point streak come to an end. Voracek had five goals and nine assists during the stretch. ... The Flyers acquired Gagne from the Kings for a fourth-round pick in the 2013 draft. ... Wednesday's contest marked the first time in Holtby's career that he started regular-season games on consecutive days. He turned aside all 33 shots in a 3-0 victory over Carolina on Tuesday.
Washington | Philadelphia | |
Joel Ward 1 | Points | Claude Giroux 2 |
Joel Ward 1 | Goals | Claude Giroux 1 |
Jay Beagle 1 | Assists | Scott Hartnell 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Simon Gagne 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Philipp Grubauer 1.000 | Save Percentage | Ilya Bryzgalov .958 |
Philipp Grubauer 14 | Saves | Ilya Bryzgalov 23 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Washington | 24 | 1 | 0-3 | 1-3 | 18 | 34 |
Philadelphia | 32 | 4 | 2-3 | 3-3 | 21 | 27 |