Capitals 6, Flyers 1
PHILADELPHIA -- The Wells Fargo Center erupted after a moving tribute and spirited play from the home team led to a first-minute goal Monday.
However, the Washington Capitals weathered the early storm, dominated the special teams battle yet again, got great goaltending from Braden Holtby and beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-1, putting a 3-0 stranglehold on the Eastern Conference first-round playoff matchup.
It is the first time the Capitals ever held a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven playoff series, and they can thank their special teams.
Washington got five goals on the man advantage, bumping their series total up to 8-for-17 on the power play. Meanwhile, with the help of Holtby, who made 31 saves, the Caps held the Flyers scoreless on five power plays. Philadelphia is now 0-for-13 with the man advantage.
The Capitals led 2-1 after two periods, then put the game away in the third.
Alexander Ovechkin gave the Capitals the lead for good 8:50 into the second period, beating Flyers goalie Steve Mason with a wrist shot from the right circle.
Evgeny Kuznetsov took advantage of a generous bounce off a Justin Williams clearing attempt to put the Capitals up 3-1 at 1:58 of the third period. The puck was being wrapped around the boards and squirted right in front of Mason, allowing Kuznetsov to score in tight.
John Carlson, who had two assists, then beat Mason with a slap shot on the power play with 12:23 to play, pushing the lead to 4-1.
Flyers forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was issued a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for hitting Dmitry Orlov from behind with 7:43 left. A melee ensued, and it ended with misconducts to both sides and Flyers fans throwing onto the ice bracelets that were handed out before the game.
Ovechkin scored on the ensuing power play, upping the lead to 5-1. Fans threw more bracelets onto the ice after the goal, and the Flyers were given a two-minute delay-of-game penalty.
Jay Beagle got in on the fun, adding the fourth power-play goal of the period.
The Flyers came out attacking from the opening faceoff after an emotional tribute honoring their late chairman, Ed Snider.
The Wells Fargo Center crowd was electric, and the Flyers responded by scoring 57 seconds into the game. A point shot by Flyers defenseman Brandon Manning through traffic ended up on the stick of Michael Raffl, who beat Holtby to give the Flyers an early 1-0 lead.
However, Wayne Simmonds took the energy out of the building 4:28 into the period by taking a holding minor that put the Flyers' penalty kill to work. Washington's power play stayed hot, scoring 15 seconds into the man-advantage when Marcus Johansson redirected a shot past Mason to even the score at 1-1.
Mason finished with 21 saves.
NOTES: The start of Monday's game was delayed as the Flyers paid tribute to their longtime chairman, Ed Snider, who died at age 83 on April 11 after a long battle with bladder cancer. Snider brought the Flyers to Philadelphia as part of the 1967 NHL expansion. Snider's initials, EMS, were inscribed behind each net. ... In 35 previous best-of-seven series, Washington never led a series 3-0. The Capitals were up 2-0 on seven previous occasions but lost Game 3 all seven times. ... Philadelphia called up veteran RW Colin McDonald from AHL Lehigh Valley on Sunday. McDonald, 31, joined the Flyers at the Monday morning skate but was scratched. ... Neither team made any changes to its Game 1 and 2 lineups.