Flyers beat Capitals to draw within one point in division race

At the top of the toughest division in the NHL, the margin for error for the Washington Capitals just got much thinner.

The Philadelphia Flyers extended their winning streak to seven games and closed within one standings point of the Capitals by beating them 5-2 Wednesday night at Capital One Arena.

The Capitals (40-20-6, 86 points) had a chance to create some breathing room for themselves in the Metropolitan Division, but couldn’t stymie the red-hot Flyers (39-20-7, 85 points). Philadelphia finished the season series 3-0-1 against Washington.

Lars Eller and Garnet Hathaway scored and Braden Holtby made 24 saves for Washington, which finished 0-for-5 on the power play.

Penalties dictated the choppy rhythm of the game. Tom Wilson earned himself two five-minute fighting majors, forcing Capitals coach Todd Reirden to shuffle the forward lines while he was off. The Capitals lead the NHL in minor penalties — and they took four in the second period alone, everything from a too-many-men call to a roughing after the whistle.

“Definitely at home against a Metro team, that’s not what we’re looking for, that’s for sure,” Reirden said. “Liked our start, liked some physicality at the beginning of the game, and we lost some momentum from some special teams situations.”

The Capitals’ penalty kill ranks fourth in the league, but it finally caved and allowed Travis Konecny to convert a power-play goal — after another one of his shots was ruled “no goal” on inconclusive evidence that the puck crossed the line. Nic Dowd agreed that it was difficult to defend Philadelphia’s power-play unit when the penalties came in bunches in the second.

“Same as our guys,” Dowd said. “If you put our top five guys on the ice that many times and they get the feel of the puck, they’re going to make plays. That’s why they’re out there.”

But on Wednesday, that wasn’t the case for Alex Ovechkin and company. The Capitals have tried the recently-acquired Ilya Kovalchuk on the second power-play unit, but he’s only managed one point in four games with Washington as the power-play drought extended to 3-for-25 since Feb. 15.

The Capitals controlled the period by drawing three Philadelphia penalties, but rather than score on a power play, their opening goal 14 minutes into the game came at even strength. Carl Hagelin chipped a pass ahead to an advancing Richard Panik in the offensive zone, and Panik shoveled a behind-the-back pass to Eller trailing to his right. Eller easily finished for his 16th goal of the year.

But all momentum got away from Washington in the second. Even when the Capitals killed penalties, the net wasn’t safe. Shortly after a power-play expired, Derek Grant kicked a pass behind him to set Kevin Hayes up for a back-door goal. Travis Pitlick soon scored to make it three Flyers goals in a 10-minute span.

The Capitals struck back before the end of the second. Hathaway drew double-coverage on a rush, so he moved the puck to Tom Wilson, who fed him right back for his second goal in the last four games.

“I don’t know who came to hit me, but they went out of position and left Tom open and Tom made a good pass,” Hathaway said.

The Flyers lead the NHL in most goals scored by defensemen, and Ivan Provorov added to that total in the third period with a snipe right past Holtby’s glove. The Capitals couldn’t find an answer, and the Flyers’ Scott Laughton eventually added the cherry on top.

It wasn’t all good news for the Flyers, who lost forward James van Riemsdyk to a broken right hand, according to coach Alain Vigneault. He left the game in the first period after taking Jonas Siegenthaler’s shot off his hand and did not return.

Much remains at stake for the Capitals this week, with two more Metro games in the next three days. They finish their back-to-back Thursday at the New York Rangers, then visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon.

“We’ve played some brilliant hockey in the first couple months of the season, so we have it within this room,” Eller said. “We’ve just got to want it more, I think. It’s a matter of effort and mentality. Go out there and do it right now because we’re a lot better team than we’ve showed lately.”