Alex Tuch wasted little time making his mark Wednesday night, and by the end of the evening he had two more goals and another milestone in a Washington sweater.
Tuch scored twice, including the empty-netter that finished off a 5-2 Capitals win over the Flyers, giving Washington its fourth victory in five games on a homestand that wrapped up on a high note. His second goal came with Philadelphia pressing in a 6-on-5 situation, a simple finish off a feed from Pierre-Luc Dubois that put the game out of reach.
It was another loud night for Tuch, who arrived from Buffalo in a trade and then signed an eight-year, $84-million contract extension in June. With his pair of goals, he became just the second player in Capitals history to score at least nine times in his first 11 games with the club. Dino Ciccarelli is the only other one to do it, after scoring 12 goals in his first 11 Caps appearances to end the 1988-89 season.
Washington’s offense had more than enough support around Tuch. Jordan Kyrou scored twice as well, and Aliaksei Protas added his first goal of the season.
Dylan Strome set the table with three assists, while Jack St. Ivany and Dubois each finished with two.
Logan Thompson made 23 saves in his return after missing Saturday’s win over Buffalo because of a lower-body injury.
The Flyers got a goal from Matvei Michkov, who scored his ninth of the season and fifth on the power play. Sean Couturier also tied the game early in the second period, but Philadelphia never found enough to keep pace and dropped its third straight after an overtime loss to Columbus on Tuesday night.
The opening minutes set the tone. Just 1:50 into the game, St. Ivany fired from outside the right faceoff circle, Strome got a stick on the rebound, and Tuch snapped it past Joseph Woll from the slot.
Woll finished with 25 saves for Philadelphia.
The Flyers now have a few days off before hosting Utah on Sunday. The Capitals head to Nashville for a Thursday night matchup with the Predators.
In Other News...
Flyers Keep Sliding As Injuries And Sloppy Play Wreck Any Momentum
The Flyers trip to Washington brought another familiar mix of frustration and unfinished business, with injuries continuing to thin the lineup and the losses piling up around them. Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov found the net in a 5-2 defeat at Capital One Arena, but the Capitals controlled the flow for most of the night and the Flyers never managed to turn a few good moments into sustained pressure.
It was the kind of game that has become all too recognizable for a club trying to find traction without Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett and Rasmus Ristolainen. Philadelphia has now lost 12 of its first 15 games, and even when the attack flashes enough to keep things interesting, the bigger issues keep showing up in the same places: turnovers, gaps in coverage and a lack of timely responses when the game starts to tilt away. [Read more 🡒]
Michkovs Scoring Surge Is Giving The Flyers A Huge New Question
Matvei Michkov has quickly become one of the Flyers most productive scorers, sitting second on the team in points while leading the club with eight goals. A lot of that damage has come from his ability to find quiet space on the weak side of the net, where he has turned into a dangerous finishing option on the power play and around the crease. The setup has given Philadelphia a legitimate new weapon in its offense, and it has also made Michkov a central piece of how the team wants to attack.
What makes the surge even more interesting is how deliberate it has been. Michkov has clearly worked to add that weak-side instinct to his game, and the results have been showing up in real time as the Flyers keep leaning on him in scoring situations. The bigger question now is how far that skill can carry him and whether the rest of the league starts to adjust to the spot where he keeps doing his best work. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Already Face An Ugly Question About This Core
The early stretch has already forced an uncomfortable conversation around the Flyers, because the problems are showing up in too many places at once. They have been slow out of the gate, loose defensively and short on the kind of offense needed to survive a long season, and coach Rick Tocchet has not tried to hide it. Sean Couturier and Nick Seeler also acknowledged the issues after Wednesdays game, which tells you how plainly this is being viewed inside the room.
Danny Briere is the one left staring at the bigger-picture question if this slide keeps going. At some point, the Flyers may have to decide whether this core needs a jolt through personnel or a more drastic shakeup behind the bench, because the current mix is not masking the flaws. For a team that wants to climb out of the leagues middle, the uncomfortable part is not just that things are going poorly now, but that the list of possible fixes is already getting shorter. [Read more 🡒]