The Flyers’ road to the playoffs got a little smoother Wednesday night at the electric Wells Fargo Center.
They shocked powerful Washington in a shootout, 2-1, and moved two points ahead of idle Detroit in the battle for the Eastern Conference’s last wild-card spot.
Steve Mason made 29 saves and stopped both shots in the shootout. The Flyers are now 3-8 in shootouts, while the Capitals are 4-2.
Nick Cousins and Sam Gagner scored on the Flyers’ only shots in the shootout.
In a game that had a playoff feel, the Flyers’ first power-play unit picked an opportune time to score its first goal in more than a month.
Brayden Schenn redirected Claude Giroux’s drive past goalie Braden Holtby with 5 minutes, 28 seconds left to tie the score at 1. It was Schenn’s 25th goal, and the first for the team’s top power-play unit since Feb. 29.
Schenn has 11 goals in his last 24 games. Giroux’s assist gave him 515 points, putting him ahead of Reggie Leach for 12th place on the team’s all-time list.
The Flyers have six games left, including Wednesday’s showdown in Detroit.
With Washington on a power play because of a Wayne Simmonds tripping penalty, Nicklas Backstrom fired a shot off the left post with 3:57 remaining in overtime. The Flyers survived the penalty.
With 1:06 to go in overtime, Holtby stopped an all-alone Shayne Gostsibehere after some great passing by Giroux and Jake Voracek.
The Flyers had not allowed a power play in about 129 minutes, but Washington connected when Brandon Manning went to the box for hooking.
The penalty occurred late in the second period and carried into the third, and Alex Ovechkin scored on a left-circle tracer with 18:32 left in regulation. Just eight seconds remained on Manning’s penalty.
It was Ovechkin’s 44th goal _ and 31st in 41 career games against the Flyers.
Both teams had great scoring chances in the second period. A minute into the period, Brayden Schenn was in alone but was stopped by Holtby. Two minutes later, Holtby denied Matt Read from point-blank range.
With 15:30 to go in the second, Ovechkin had Mason beaten, but his right-circle shot bounced off the left post.
The Flyers had eight of the second-period’s first nine shots, including one by Cousins that Holtby turned aside from the paint.
Midway through the second, Jake Voracek fed an all-alone Michael Raffl in front, but Holtby again made a big stop.
The Flyers failed to connect during the only power play in the first period. Holtby made three saves during the power play, including a nice stop on Wayne Simmonds from the slot.
The Flyers’ first power-play unit has not scored since Feb. 29 in a 5-3 win over Calgary.
Holtby, an All-Star selection this season, made 13 first-periods saves, while Mason had 11 stops.
Since returning from a foot injury, right winger Voracek had just two points in six games entering Wednesday. But he was in the middle of a handful of scoring chances in the opening period.
“It’s better. The foot isn’t a problem. It doesn’t hurt anymore,” Voracek said before the game. “I’ve got no more excuses.”
Added Voracek: “I expect to be a difference-maker tonight and down the stretch.”
He had five first-period shots, but Holtby had all the answers.
Washington clinched the league’s highest point total on Monday, but the Capitals said they wanted to remain sharp heading into the playoffs and that Wednesday’s game was important because the Flyers could be their first-round opponent.