Flyers return home to face red-hot Capitals

The Philadelphia Flyers will look to rebound from a difficult road trip when they host the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.

Their 5-4 overtime loss Tuesday to the Carolina Hurricanes finished off the Flyers' six-game road trip with a 1-4-1 mark. Travis Sanheim tied the game with four minutes remaining before Philadelphia fell in overtime.

The tough task now facing the Flyers is battling the Capitals, who lead the league with 65 points.

"We took a step in the right direction," Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said. "Now we gotta get home -- not that I don't like talking to you (media) guys, but we gotta get home and play tomorrow."

Backup goaltender Brian Elliott gave up five goals on 33 shots, including the overtime game-winner by Dougie Hamilton. But the Flyers generated enough offense to win, which had to be encouraging on an otherwise rough road trip.

"We know we have to play better, especially on the road," said Philadelphia's Jakub Voracek. "But now we're going home. All those tough road trips, the traveling is behind us now. Now we've got to focus on taking it up a notch for the second half of the season."

Defensively, the Flyers have allowed at least five goals in five of their last six games, which has coincided with the losses piling up.

On this particular night, the Flyers had to take solace in at least coming up with one point.

"To be able to come back and find a way to get a point," captain Claude Giroux said, "it's a big point for us right now."

The Capitals will be searching for their fourth win in a row. On Tuesday, they breezed past the Ottawa Senators 6-1 as T.J. Oshie and Alex Ovechkin scored two goals apiece.

Ovechkin recorded his sixth multi-goal game this season and has already scored 26 times. In addition, Ovechkin notched his 684th career goal, tying him with Teemu Selanne for 11th on the all-time list.

With six more goals, Ovechkin will equal former Pittsburgh Penguins star Mario Lemieux.

"(Ovechkin has) had a number of chances recently, and they made some good saves on him," Capitals head coach Todd Reirden said. "He's just missed on some others. Good to see him get rewarded."

Ovechkin wasn't concerned with records. Rather, he was satisfied by the overall effort and, ultimately, the victory.

"I think we played a much better game today than we played (Sunday) against San Jose," Ovechkin told the Washington Post. "Our line, we stayed in the zone a little longer, we control the puck and, you know, we create some chances. And if we are going to play like that, the goals are going to be there. Not only for me, but all of us."

Capitals rookie goaltender Ilya Samsonov stopped 26 shots and improved to 12-2-1.

"One thing that hasn't changed has been his composure through the whole thing, and that's been the thing that's surprised me the most," Reirden said.

Samsonov is the first goaltender in Capitals history to win 12 times in his first 15 starts.

--Field Level Media