Washington’s Alex Ovechkin scored twice as the Capitals routed Philadelphia 6-1 on Monday to take a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven NHL first-round playoff series, prompting an angry reaction from Flyers fans.
The day’s two other games prevented 3-0 leads, as Minnesota came from two goals down to beat Dallas and Los Angeles beat San Jose in overtime to cut the deficits in those series to 2-1.
Ovechkin snapped a tie game with his 38th post-season goal and goaltender Braden Holtby made the lead stand with his third straight sensational effort in the series, making 31 saves.
Photo: AP
The Capitals scored five power-play goals, including four in the third period.
The Flyers lost in their first home game since founder Ed Snider’s death last week. Michael Raffl scored 57 seconds into the game to send a crowd that was already emotional after the pregame tribute into a frenzy.
Once the crowd and the Flyers settled down, the Capitals got going and looked every bit as dominant as they had all season.
“They had a special moment, a tough moment, for them, and we tried to handle it,” Ovechkin said. “I think we managed it.”
The home fans turned in the third period, throwing wristbands used as part of a pregame lights show onto the ice and earning a delay of game penalty.
The Flyers public address announcer urged fans to “show some class,” and then sarcastically added “way to go” when the fans earned the penalty.
The Capitals lead a series 3-0 for the first time in franchise history. Game 4 is today in Philadelphia.
“It’s a huge opportunity for us to come back home with the win and see what’s going to happen and who’s going to be next,” Ovechkin said.
Minnesota’s Jason Pominville had two goals and an assist as the Wild rallied to beat Dallas 5-3.
Patrick Sharp scored 26 seconds into the game and again less than 4 minutes later for the Stars, but the Wild controlled the action after that and finished with a 25-17 shots-on-goal advantage.
Chris Porter put the Wild on the board in the final minute of the first, their first even-strength goal of the series. Erik Haula added a goal and an assist, Mikko Koivu scored on a power play in the third period and the Wild stopped a seven-game slump that started on March 31.
Los Angeles’ Tanner Pearson scored 3 minutes, 47 seconds into overtime to give the Kings a much-needed 2-1 win against San Jose. Anze Kopitar added a power-play goal and Jonathan Quick made 29 saves. Joe Thornton scored 30 seconds into the game for the Sharks, but they could not get anything else by Quick.
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