Flyers Winning Streak Snapped At Six
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mike Green scored a power-play goal 29 seconds into overtime to give the Washington Capitals a 3-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday. It was Green's fourth goal of the season.
Eric Fehr and Alexander Semin also scored for the Capitals, who moved ahead of Philadelphia into the Eastern Conference lead. Nicklas Backstrom had two assists.
Nikolay Zherdev and Ville Leino scored for Philadelphia, which had its six-game winning streak snapped. The Flyers haven't won seven in a row since January 2002.
Braden Holtby made his first NHL start in goal for the Capitals, making 23 saves. Holtby earned a standing ovation with 9 1/2 minutes left in the third period after a pair of saves on point-blank shots to preserve the tie during a flurry of Flyers activity in front of the net. Holtby's inaugural start came two days after his first career appearance. The 21-year-old made his debut -- and earned his first win -- Friday when he relieved Michal Neuvirth with 10 minutes remaining against Boston.
Philadelphia rookie goalie Sergei Bobrovsky fell one game short in his attempt to tie the team record of seven straight wins by a first-year netminder. Bobrovsky entered the game tied for the NHL lead with eight wins.
The Capitals got an extended power-play chance when Chris Pronger was given 4 minutes for a high stick on David Steckel with 3:55 remaining in the third period, but Washington was unable to break the tie in regulation.
Another Philadelphia penalty -- Sean O'Donnell's 2 minutes for boarding -- with 19 seconds left kept the Capitals on the power play as overtime started, and Green took advantage with his shot from the right circle.
Zherdev gave Philadelphia a 1-0 lead at 9:51 in the first period, when he kept the puck on a 2-on-1 break and fired it past Holtby.
Fehr evened the score later in the opening period with a shot from the far side of the left circle that found the top right corner of the net at 17:29.
The Flyers regained the lead at 4:04 in the second period when Leino deflected Andrej Meszaros' slap shot past Holtby to put Philadelphia up 2-1.
Semin scored his ninth goal of the season later in the period to tie it 2-all. The power-play goal was set up by Backstrom, who picked up the rebound on Alex Ovechkin's slap shot and found Semin directly in front of the net.
NOTES: Ovechkin's assist on Semin's goal gave him at least one point in six straight games. ... Pelle Lindbergh set the Flyers' record of seven straight wins by a rookie goalie from Dec. 22,
1982, to Jan. 4, 1983.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
