Streaking Caps up next for improved Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers will attempt to inch closer to contending for a playoff berth when they host the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.

The Flyers improved to 4-0-1 in their last five games with a convincing 4-1 victory on the road against the New York Islanders on Sunday.

Philadelphia picked up the three-goal win without forward Jakub Voracek, who missed his first game all season with a lower-body injury won't face the Capitals. The Flyers also lost forward Nolan Patrick during the win against New York, as he took a shot by Cal Clutterbuck off his head and had to be helped off the ice.

Goaltender Brian Elliott stayed hot with 29 saves for his ninth win of the season. Elliott has been thriving since rookie standout Carter Hart recently went out with a lower-body injury.

It was Elliott's third win in his last four starts, and the Flyers (32-26-8, 72 points) were able to move within five points of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

"We needed him to come through with a couple big saves," Philadelphia's Travis Konecny told reporters of Elliott. "That's a lot of offensive power coming out of there. He did a great job, and kudos to our D group to stick with it tonight, and not give them much."

Konecny, Travis Sanheim, Scott Laughton and Sean Couturier each scored, while Claude Giroux had a pair of assists for the surging Flyers.

"I thought our guys did a lot of good stuff," Philadelphia interim head coach Scott Gordon told reporters after the victory. "I thought overall, real strong jump defensively. When it looked like they were going to get an open shot, we had guys who were already at the net front. I talked about, last week, about defending from the inside to the outside. We did a real good job of that."

The Capitals (38-21-7, 83 points) are also hot, with four consecutive victories.

They pulled out a 3-2 shootout victory Sunday on the road against the New York Rangers.

In the fourth round of the shootout, Alex Ovechkin skated in, deked right and had Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev throw his stick at the puck. Following a review, Ovechkin was given credit for the winning goal.

"I know 100 percent it's a goal," Ovechkin told reporters. "I was surprised of the first reaction of the referees. It was nice we have replay."

Goaltender Braden Holtby was solid, making 22 saves to help lead the Capitals to another victory.

After watching Ovechkin's move in the shootout, Holtby was confident it was a goal.

"Once it happened, I thought it was going to be a goal," Holtby told reporters. "Right away, I thought they'd call it instantly. I'm not sure what the delay was. It's a rule -- he would have had a wide-open net if he didn't do that. They made the right call, and we came out with a big win."

Added forward T.J. Oshie: "It's a first for me. It's a crazy way to win. If he doesn't throw (it) you've got to imagine, a guy like 'O' is putting that in the back of the net. It's a crazy way to win, but we'll take it."

Ovechkin will enter this game against the Flyers just three points shy of 1,200 for his career.

Wednesday's game will be the first of three meetings in 19 days between the teams. Washington won the first meeting this season, a 5-3 result in D.C. on Jan. 8.

--Field Level Media