Chimera’s early goal enough as Holtby, Caps blank Flyers

A long shot found its way past Rob Zepp on a deflection just 3:13 into the game. That was enough for Braden Holtby.

The Flyers managed 21 shots, all of them stopped by Holtby as the Washington Capitals rode an early goal to a 1-0 win over the Flyers on Wednesday night at Verizon Center.

A shot from right along the blue line by Matt Niskanen was deflected by Jason Chimera past Zepp at 3:13 of the first.

The Capitals controlled most of the first period before the Flyers started generating chances. The early portion second period strongly favored the Flyers before the Capitals started pressing again. In the final minute of the period, Zepp made an outstanding kick save on Eric Fehr to keep Washington's lead at one.

The Flyers and Capitals played a fairly conservative third period. The Flyers had a power play early in the third, but failed to convert. The Flyers were 0-for-3 on the power play.

There weren't many good scoring chances for the Flyers until the closing stages of the third. With the goalie pulled in the final minute, Mark Streit threw a shot toward the net that was knocked down before deflecting several times and bouncing into the crease. Vincent Lecavalier whiffed on a chance to score as Washington clinged to the lead.

It was quite a night for the goalies. Zepp was the Flyers best player on the ice, stopping 25 of 26 shots. Holtby stopped 21 shots in the win.

The Flyers return home on Thursday night to face the Vancouver Canucks. The opening face-off is set for 7 p.m.

Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.