The Washington Capitals and the Philadelphia Flyers are among a handful of teams yet to suffer a regulation loss. Washington hasn't had one against Philadelphia in nearly three years. The visiting Capitals look to continue their franchise-best start while extending their point streak against the Flyers to 10 games Thursday night.
Washington (5-0-0) joins Detroit as the only teams remaining which have yet to lose. The Capitals have won their first five games for the first time in the team's 37 seasons after a 3-0 victory over Florida on Tuesday night. Though coach Bruce Boudreau is pleased with Washington's solid start, he's presided over four straight Southeast Division championship teams which haven't made it past the Eastern Conference semifinals of any postseason.
"Quite frankly, when it comes to April and May, I'm not going to be able to sit here and say, 'Hey, we were 5-0 and got that record. Isn't that great?' It's not going to really hold a lot of weight," Boudreau said. "It's nice, but it's just a process of getting to where we want to get."
Tomas Vokoun made 20 saves Tuesday to post his first shutout and Jason Chimera scored his team-high fourth goal for Washington, which is 6-0-3 in its last nine games against Philadelphia.
Alex Ovechkin looks to help extend that streak - which dates to a 4-2 loss Feb. 24, 2009 - while recovering from his slow start. He's been limited to three points through five games, just as he was in 2008-09 - the only other time in his seven-year career he began this slowly.
Ovechkin, though, has at least one point in eight straight versus Philadelphia, totaling eight goals and six assists. He has 20 goals and 15 assists in 22 career games against the Flyers (4-0-1), who finished one point behind Washington for the best record in the East last season.
Philadelphia is coming off a 7-2 victory over Ottawa on Tuesday behind a goal and three assists from Matt Read. It marked the most points by a Flyers rookie since Alexandre Picard had five assists Feb. 1, 2007.
"I've been given the opportunity and I'm just trying to make the best of it," said Read, who had two points in his first four games.
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Claude Giroux, who has a goal in three straight meetings against the Capitals, scored his team-leading fourth goal. Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves in his first start of the season, though it's likely the Flyers will turn back to Ilya Bryzgalov against Washington. Bryzgalov is 3-0-1 with a 1.99 goals-against average and beat the Capitals in his only start against them last season, making 29 saves in a 3-2 victory Feb. 14 while playing for Phoenix.
Vokoun is 4-0-0 with a 1.94 GAA but hasn't been as successful against Philadelphia in recent years. He's 4-6-1 with a 2.46 GAA in his last 11 starts versus the Flyers, including losses in the last two. He could benefit from a Capitals power-play unit which has scored on three of its last five chances and ranks third in the league with a 29.4 percent success rate. The Flyers are 7 for 18 with the man advantage in its last three games. Washington is 7-1-2 in the last 10 meetings in Philadelphia.
