Capitals at Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers face the unenviable task of trying to shut down Alex Ovechkin when they face off against the Washington Capitals on Saturday in their home opener. Philadelphia began the season with a 2-2-0 road trip that concluded with a disappointing 6-5 loss at Nashville on Tuesday.
The Flyers overcame a 3-0 deficit by scoring five consecutive goals but ran into penalty trouble late and allowed two power-play tallies in the final 1:17 of the third period. Bouncing back against Ovechkin and the Capitals will prove difficult, as the six-time Maurice Richard Trophy winner scored his league-leading ninth goal in Washington's 5-2 victory at New Jersey on Friday. The 32-year-old captain, who kicked off the season with back-to-back hat tricks and has tallied in four of his first five contests, also notched his first assist of 2017-18 in the win. Washington is averaging four goals per game and has three players (Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom) that have collected 10 points.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCSN (Washington, Philadelphia)
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (3-1-1): All 10 of Kuznetsov's points have been assists, as the 25-year-old Russian notched two on Friday to give him one-fourth of the amount he registered in 82 games last campaign. Backstrom was kept off the scoresheet by Ottawa in the season opener but has recorded three multi-point performances in his last four contests, including a four-point effort in the win over the Devils. T.J. Oshie also is off to a solid start with five goals - including two on Friday - after scoring a career-high 33 in 2016-17.
ABOUT THE FLYERS (2-2-0): Some good things came out of the loss to the Predators - including the effort by Valtteri Filppula, who recorded his 13th career multi-goal performance by scoring twice on the power play. Nolan Patrick, the second overall pick in this past June's draft, netted his first career tally while Jakub Voracek and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere each notched a pair of assists for their second multi-point efforts of the season. Voracek leads the team with six points and Gostisbehere is right on his heels with five, although neither has scored a goal.
OVERTIME
1. Flyers D Samuel Morin was loaned to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League after being scratched for each of the first four games of the season.
2. Washington's defense corps, which lost Matt Niskanen to an upper-body injury on Friday, has produced just one of the team's 20 goals, with rookie Christian Djoos holding the honor.
3. Philadelphia is beginning a five-game homestand during which it will wrap up the season series against Nashville and Anaheim.