Nic Dowd scored two goals to lift the Washington Capitals past the host Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 on Thursday.

Alex Ovechkin, Conor Sheary and John Carlson each added one goal for the Capitals, who won their third in a row and their seventh in eight games.

Capitals goaltender Ilya Samsonov made 30 saves in the victory.

Travis Konecny had one goal and one assist, while Ivan Provorov and Scott Laughton added a goal each for the Flyers.

Kevin Hayes contributed two assists for the Flyers, who will face the Capitals once again on Saturday.

Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott stopped 17 shots.

The Capitals went ahead 1-0 at 8:37 of the first period when Ovechkin took advantage of a Philadelphia turnover and fired a slap shot past Elliott. It was Ovechkin's 715th career goal, leaving him just two behind Hall of Famer Phil Esposito.

Konecny tied the game at 1 on his 24th birthday with a power-play goal at 11:14.

Following a turnover at the blue line, Sheary broke free and sent a shot through Elliott's pads for a 2-1 Washington lead at 13:10 of the first.

The Capitals were the more aggressive team to open the second, and they went ahead 3-1 when Carlson's sixth goal at 6:58 eluded Elliott. Carlson also recorded the 500th point of his career.

Philadelphia managed only two shots on goal through the first 10 minutes of the second.

Washington's dominance continued for a 4-1 advantage after Dowd's shot deflected off Shayne Gostisbehere at 17:33 of the second.

There was a crack in the glass by the Philadelphia bench, so the officials decided to tack the final 1:29 of the second onto the beginning of the third.

The Flyers closed within 4-2 when Provorov fired a wrist shot over Samsonov's shoulder at 1:43 of the third.

Laughton's shot clanged off the post and into the net to cut the deficit to 4-3 at 10:45.

Elliott was pulled for an extra skater with 1:48 remaining, but Dowd responded with an empty-net goal that traveled the length of the ice.

--Field Level Media