The Washington Capitals continued ther strong play at home to start the season. They get more contributions from some of their offseason additions to move to 7-4-0 on the season with a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers Wednesday night.
Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou both remained hot, netting a pair of goals apiece to pace the Caps.
Tuch continued his torrid pace to start the season, scoring 110 seconds into the game for his 8th of the season. The goal also moved Tuch and Strome into double digits in points on the year.
“I think we kind of took it to them,” Kyrou said. “You know, the first five, 10 minutes, and, you know, that’s what we wanted to do, and we just kind of kept the ball rolling off of that.”
After the Flyers tied it on a Sean Couturier deflection 4:36 into the second, Washington scored twice in the second to take control of the contest.
”I really liked our second,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “I thought we did a good job … We essentially didn’t give them anything.”
Kyrou scored a power-play goal to make it 2-1 less than three minutes after the Couturier goal. getting a rebound of a Dylan Strome shot for his third goal of the season.
“It’s great,” Kyrou said of his and Tuch’s fast start. “I mean, you know, you want everyone to score obviously, right?
“I’m happy to score another 2 tonight.”
Aliaksei Protas then scored his first of the season with 3:13 left in the frame, tipping a shot past Joseph Woll’s glove for a 3-1 lead.
Philadelphia, coming off a night where they rallied for a point at home, didn’t seem to have a whole lot left in the tank early in the third, but Matvei Michkov converted on a power play just before the halfway mark to cut it to 3-2.
But Kyrou netted his second of the game with just over 7 minutes left in regulation, and Strome picked up his third assist of the night and team-leading 12th point of the season.
Tuch added an empty netter for his second and 9th on the year, with Dubois getting his second helper of the contest. Tuch’s tally put him on pace for 69 goals this season, and tied for fourth in the NHL in that category.
“I think, obviously, with high expectations, you know, you know, comes, you know, a lot of responsibility,” Strome said afterwards. “Just because you’re a good team on paper, the game, um, doesn’t mean anything, really. And you gotta come and you gotta put the work in and show up and, you know, play well.
“[We] kind of found a way to string them together and, um, you know, I feel like kind of learning how to win as a team and, and that over the last two, you know, it feels like that.”
Logan Thompson was solid in his first game back after a week-long IR stint, ending the night with 23 saves, none more important than a glove save on Trevor Zegras with a one-goal lead.
”I like to keep playing,” Thompson said of the layoff. “I think that helps me get in the groove, but it was good to get some work in these past couple days and get the body back 100%. and one more game tomorrow and, you know, we’ll keep building.”
Jack St. Ivany was also very good in his Washington debut after being claimed on waivers from Winnipeg, getting a pair of assists and praise from his teammates.
”I really like his game,” Thompson said. “He was blocking shots out there, and, um, yeah, I thought he, uh, was one of our best players tonight.”
Washington concludes their 5-game homestand with a 4-1-0 record, and moves their home record to 6-2-0, as the Capitals have played 8 of 11 at home, with 3 of the next 4 at home as well.
The Capitals have a one-game road trip to Tennessee for Alex Ovechkin’s final visit to Nashville Thursday, before another three-game homestand begins Sunday against the Minnesota Wild.
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