Capitals Not Worried About Collapsing After Game 5 Wake-up Call

There are two ways the Capitals can look at their first-round series against the Flyers, which shifts to Philadelphia for Game 6 on Sunday at noon.

One is that their once commanding 3-0 lead in the series has been reduced to 3-2 as they head into what should be a very hostile Wells Fargo Center.

The other is that they completely dominated Friday night's Game 5 and still have two chances to win one game.

"Reality check: We're up 3-2 in a series," said Capitals right wing Justin Williams, who took eight minutes in penalties in game 5 and was a minus-2. "You don't expect to have any team go away quietly. They're doing what they can to stay alive. If you look at the big picture, we're up 3-2, so that's what we're doing."

Caps center Jay Beagle said he can understand the angst of a Capitals fan base that has seen their team blow four two-game leads in the playoffs during the Alex Ovechkin era, but said that nervousness has not filtered into the locker room.

"We're excited," Beagle said. "It's the playoffs. I mean, going into it if you would have said we had the lead going into Philly (for Game 6) we'd be happy. Game 4 we weren't happy with the way we played, but yesterday we were really happy with the way we played."

That's because the Capitals outshot the Flyers 44-11 and were perfect on the penalty kill, going 6-for-6 to improve to 20 for 21 in the series. It was with that in mind that the Capitals' coaching staff presented players with a positive message before Saturday's optional practice, which had full participation except for Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson, T.J. Oshie and Tom Wilson.