• Recap
• Bleachers

Ovechkin leads Capitals past Flyers

Oct 4, 2008 - 2:15 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- As Alex Ovechkin goes, so go the Washington Capitals.

Ovechkin scored a goal and set up two others as the Capitals recorded a 5-1 preseason victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday.

During the 2007-08 campaign, the Russian netted 65 goals en route to claiming the Maurice Richard, Art Ross and Hart Trophies. It appears his success has carried over into the exhibition season.

Ovechkin scored his fourth preseason goal with five minutes remaining in the first period, a shorthanded tally that gave Washington a 1-0 lead. The 23-year-old set up a power-play goal by captain Chris Clark 3:50 into the second, and Nicklas Backstrom made it 3-0 less than five minutes later as Brooks Laich and Ovechkin picked up assists.

Daniel Briere cut the deficit to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 5:18 of the third, but Tomas Fleischmann added to Washington's lead three minutes later with his fourth of the preseason. Eric Fehr capped the scoring with 5:57 remaining.

Sergei Fedorov, who has scored 472 regular-season goals and won three Stanley Cup championships and a Hart Trophy as a center, played defense in this one and notched two assists.

Jose Theodore made 17 saves for the Capitals, who improved to 5-1-0 this preseason.

Jean-Sebastien Aubin allowed three goals on 19 shots before being replaced after two periods by Martin Biron, who made 10 saves for Philadelphia.