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Hartnell, Carter lead Flyers' rout of Capitals

Dec 20, 2008 - 11:22 PM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Even when the statistics don't say so, the Philadelphia Flyers still manage to make things look easy.

Scott Hartnell recorded his fifth career hat trick and set up another goal, leading the Flyers to a 7-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

Jeff Carter had two goals and an assist and Joffrey Lupul had a tally and two assists for the Flyers, who improved to 14-2-3 in their last 19 games. Simon Gagne also scored for Philadelphia.

Despite the large margin of victory, it was not an easy one for goaltender Antero Niittymaki, who made 47 saves in helping the Flyers put a resounding end to the Capitals' five-game winning streak.

"Well they had a couple of power plays and that is when they try to find Alex (Ovechkin)," Niittymaki said. "They try to get puck to the net and they got some rebounds. You just try to go save by save."

"I've seen him good, but today he was great," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "He is really why we won. When your goalie plays well, it allows your team to regroup."

Brooks Laich scored for the Capitals, who lost despite outshooting Philadelphia, 48-28.

The Capitals outshot Philadelphia, 25-6, in the opening period, but had nothing to show for it.

Lupul opened the scoring at 4:29 with his 11th goal of the season. Carter then tallied twice in a span of 54 seconds in the second to chase goaltender Brent Johnson.

"We've been around long enough to see it happen before," Laich said. "When it is happening, you're aware of it, too. We're at 15 shots halfway trough the period. All of a sudden, they get one shot and it goes in. Sometimes, that is just the way game goes."

"It is tough to play like that," Capitals right wing Tomas Fleischmann said. "We should have put some goals in the first period and Niitttymaki was a hot goaltender. That was the reason we didn't succeed today. We had the chances we just didn't put them in."

Philadelphia had no trouble converting its chances. Carter scored on a wrist shot, then followed that up with shorthanded goal with 3:55 left in the period.

Jose Theodore replaced Johnson, but nothing could slow the Flyers. Hartnell scored at 4:45 of the third. Laich scored 36 seconds later, but Hartnell and Gagne scored power-play goals 1:50 apart.

Hartnell then completed the hat trick with 3:35 left.

"Out goalie played great and gave us a chance to win," Lupul said. "At that point, you want to bail him out. We took some penalties and he stood on his head. It was good to reward him with some goals."

Johnson stopped 10 shots. Theodore turned aside 11 for Washington, which was 0-for-5 with a man advantage.

"The second goal was what deflated us," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said. "By the time we had come back it was three nothing. When you are playing against a goalie that is in a zone that was pretty well it. You could see it in the third that we didn't have much."