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Semin, Ovechkin help Capitals extend Flyers' losing streak

Dec 17, 2006 - 5:18 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- One night after Alex Ovechkin stole the show for the Washington Capitals, another Russian took center stage.

Alexander Semin scored two goals and set up another and Ovechkin added a tally and two assists as the Capitals skated to a 4-1 triumph over the Philadelphia Flyers, who have lost six in a row.

The reigning Calder Trophy winner, Ovechkin recorded his second career hat trick in Friday's 3-2 overtime win over Atlanta, tying the game in the final minute and netting the winner six seconds into the extra session.

On Saturday, Semin was the offensive star for Washington, setting up Dainius Zubrus' goal late in the first period before netting two of his own in the middle session to give the Capitals a 3-1 lead. It was the second multi-goal game of the season for Semin, who registered a hat trick against Carolina on October 7.

Ovechkin capped the scoring in the third with his fifth tally in four games and Olaf Kolzig made 21 saves for Washington, which has won all three meetings between the teams this season.

"It's nice to win at home right after a big road victory," Capitals captain Chris Clark said. "We carried that momentum into tonight's game from yesterday's win in Atlanta."

Mike Knuble scored the lone goal for the Flyers, who got back captain Peter Forsberg from a foot injury only to lose him to a slight concussion on a hit by Ovechkin in the second period.

"The (injury) is not that bad," Forsberg said. "I wasn't knocked out. I remember everything, so it's not that bad. I kind of knew Ovechkin was going to hit me."

"The turning point of the game was when Forsberg got injured," Capitals coach Glen Hanlon said. "I'm not in their locker room, but I can sympathize because you get an emotional lift when your leader is on the ice and playing well. Then he's gone and the game is tied up. This is tough to recover from."

Forsberg, who had missed the previous five games, seemed to provide a spark early for the Flyers. Just 3 1/2 minutes into the contest, the Swedish superstar made a return pass across the slot to Knuble, who beat Kolzig to the glove side for his 13th goal of the season and eighth in 11 games.

However, that was all the offense Philadelphia mustered. Former Flyer Zubrus forged a 1-1 tie and ended an 11-game drought with 37 seconds left in the opening session by burying a loose puck in front before Semin took over.

"We started to turn the puck over. We made some bad mistakes," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "We had a couple of good chances in the first period. We had the attack on, we just didn't stay with it. Washington's a very good hockey team."

At 5:52 of the second, Semin faked a shot from the right faceoff circle and carried around the net before stuffing in the puck at the left goalpost. Just 3:05 later, the 22-year-old tapped in a pass from Ovechkin while alone on the doorstep for a 3-1 advantage.

"We're playing our system and it's going well," Ovechkin said. "We had many opportunities tonight and we capitalized on their mistakes."

Ovechkin gave Washington a comfortable lead early in the third, carrying down the left wing and cutting to the slot before putting a wrist shot past goaltender Antero Niittymaki to the stick side.

"When Ovie is on top of his game, he's hard to stop," Hanlon said. "There are a handful of players out there that can distribute the puck, use his linemates and find the open spaces like he does. It's extremely difficult to stop him."

"The one word that sums up his play is consistency," Clark added. "He's doing things better than last season and continues to score big goals and make great plays."

The six-game slide is the second this season for Philadelphia, which also dropped a half-dozen in a row from November 2-13.

"They have some young guys that play hard and they'll get their wins," Hanlon said.