Anthony Mantha scores in debut as Capitals rout Flyers

“It felt great,” Mantha mentioned of his first recreation in a Capitals sweater. “Obviously excited to be here. First couple shifts were a little stressed, but as it went on it kind of got easier for me. Really comfortable in my first game.”

Mantha’s arrival — he took a automobile service Monday evening from Raleigh, N.C. — gave the Capitals’ assault further vitality, which translated to a four-goal first interval. The Flyers by no means threatened over the ultimate 40 minutes.

“I thought he was in the mix of the play all night,” Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette mentioned. “Coming in here the way he did and meeting everyone for the first time is always a little bit challenging, and you never know what’s going to happen. I thought he played a pretty good game.”

Washington (28-11-4, 60 factors) additionally acquired Michael Raffl from the Flyers at Monday’s commerce deadline. The versatile depth ahead is battling a lingering damage however is just not anticipated to be out long run. He was not obtainable Tuesday.

Mantha didn’t come cheaply — General Manager Brian MacLellan dealt Jakub Vrana, Richard Panik and two excessive draft picks for the 6-foot-5, 234-pound winger who’s signed for 3 extra seasons after this one at a mean worth of $5.7 million. But the Capitals’ transfer signaled an intention to make a deep playoff run. Since successful its first Stanley Cup in 2018, Washington has suffered consecutive first-round playoff exits.

“We’re looking at making a move here and making another run at this thing,” T.J. Oshie mentioned Tuesday morning. “I personally am very excited that the deadline is over and now we can start focusing on getting our team ready to play playoff hockey.”

Alex Ovechkin scored the staff’s ultimate tally of the evening along with his power-play wrister at 5:10 of the third. It was Ovechkin’s twenty second objective of the season and No. 728 of his profession. He is three shy of Marcel Dionne for fifth on the NHL’s all-time targets checklist.

With the win, Washington has gained three straight and as soon as once more is atop the East Division, however the New York Islanders (27-11-4, 58 factors) have a recreation in hand. The loss dumped the struggling Flyers (19-17-6, 44 factors) into sixth place.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but I think some things we’re going to attribute to that we’re playing a pretty complete game,” defenseman Nick Jensen mentioned of the Capitals’ latest success. “We’re coming out in the first five minutes of the game and striking hard, something that we’ve struggled with sometimes throughout the year, and then we’re finishing the game with a lot of good attitude.”

The Capitals managed the opening body, taking a 4-1 benefit as Elliott couldn’t deal with the Washington push. The Capitals, who had been coming off an 8-1 win Sunday in Boston, have 14 targets in their previous two video games.

Ilya Samsonov bought the nod in web and made 29 saves. His solely error was when he misplayed the puck behind the web and it led to the Flyers’ lone objective from Sean Couturier at 8:45 of the primary interval. Samsonov is 10-3-1 on the season and 4-0-0 towards the Flyers.

“I thought he looked good. . . . They probably had 10 shots on net in the last 10 minutes and probably six of them were scoring chances, so he had to make some big saves then just to keep things where they were,” Laviolette mentioned. “I thought he played a good game.”

Laviolette mentioned Tuesday morning that there was no level in naming a No. 1 goaltender at this level. The rotation in web with rookie Vitek Vanecek will proceed as the playoffs loom.

Besides Samsonov’s miscue, the primary interval was all Capitals. Conor Sheary gave Washington a 1-0 lead at 7:07 along with his sharp-angle objective previous Elliott. It was Sheary’s third objective in two video games.

Couturier’s objective was adopted by Tom Wilson’s eleventh of the season, a power-play objective at 11:32. Sheary and Mantha assisted on the play. Nicklas Backstrom, who was taking part in in his 999th profession recreation, continued the power-play scoring along with his marker from the underside of the fitting circle off a feed from Ovechkin. Carl Hagelin made it 4-1 at 18:21.

Washington went 3 for 3 on the ability play.

“I can’t ask for much better in my first game over here,” Mantha mentioned of taking part in with Backstrom and Oshie on the second line. “Hopefully we get our chemistry going over the next couple games and catch fire.”