It all continued. The losing, the listlessness, the struggles at both ends of the ice. It was easily exploited by a talented opponent.
The scale did not shift in its strange way on Thursday night. The Flyers did not come with their best for an opponent higher in the standings.
The Washington Capitals rolled easily behind three second-period goals to a 5-2 victory over the Flyers on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers struck for the game's first goal just 3:34 into the game. Carry the play in the first four minutes, the first shot of the game for the Orange and Black beat Braden Holtby, as Scott Laughton rifled a shot high for his third goal of the season.
The Capitals managed to tie the game midway through the first. A slick drop pass along the goalline by Evgeny Kuznetsov found a wide-open T.J. Oshie in front of the net for the equalizer.
The Capitals outshot the Flyers, 11-4, in the first.
It was the Flyers who would strike early again in the second. On a power play, Claude Giroux fired a shot off the post and in for his fifth goal of the season at 1:07 to give the Flyers the lead again.
From there, it was all Washington.
The Capitals tied the game at 9:54 as a flubbed pass by Kuznetsov bounced into the slot and to Jason Chimera who finished his fourth goal of the season.
Just 45 seconds later, Justin Williams scored the go-ahead goal out of a net-mouth scramble.
Chimera would add his second of the period, deflecting a Matt Niskanen shot on the power play with 2:37 to play in the period.
The Capitals nearly had a fourth goal in the second period, as Alex Ovechkin, sitting one goal shy of the all-time record for a Russian-born player, fired a one-timer past Mason. However, after a coach's challenge by Dave Hakstol, Williams was offsides on the play, nullifying the goal.
The period ended with the Capitals ahead, 4-2, and outshooting the Flyers, 23-11.
A listless third period finally started to turn interesting for the Flyers when they put together an excellent shift, that included Matt Read getting stopped in close by Holtby, with just under seven minutes to play.
But moments later, the Capitals turned a defensive breakdown of sorts into a goal as Nicklas Backstrom was in the slot for an easy one-timer past Steve Mason to ice the game.
The Capitals outshot the Flyers for the game, 32-20. The Flyers never managed more than eight shots in a period.
The Flyers power play was 1-for-4. Washington was 2-for-3 on the power play. The Flyers were also charged with 10 giveaways in the game to Washington's two.
The Flyers hit the road for a short trip to Raleigh to face the Carolina Hurricanes. The opening face-off is on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
