PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Travis Konecny and Trevor Zegras scored in the second period and the Philadelphia Flyers rallied to beat the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Wednesday night.
Washington has lost four of its last five games and is tied with Philadelphia at 71 points. Both teams are seven points behind Boston in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
The Flyers fell behind early when Washington’s Ryan Leonard took a pass from 40-year-old Alex Ovechkin and shot it through a screen past goalie Sam Ersson 9:21 into the game.
Through 64 games this season, it was the 44th time the Flyers had allowed the first goal. And, Philadelphia was 6-15-5 this season when trailing after the first period.
Konecny, celebrating his 29th birthday, took a pass from Travis Sanheim in the right circle and scored past Washington’s Logan Thompson at 4:23 of the second for a 1-all tie.
Owen Tippett then picked off a pass, stepped around Washington’s Tom Wilson and broke, 2-on-none, with Zegras. The two passed back and forth before Zegras lifted the puck in for a 2-1 lead.
Philadelphia added to its lead in the third period on a terrific play by Noah Cates. Tied up behind the Capitals’ net during a 4-on-4 situation, he one-handed a pass into the slot, where defenseman Jamie Drysdale shot it past Thompson for a 3-1 lead.
Tippett finished up the scoring with an empty-net goal with 1:03 left. Ersson stopped 21 shots for the Flyers.
CANADIENS 3, SENATORS 2
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Ivan Demidov broke a tie with 7:20 left, Jacob Fowler made 32 saves and Montreal beat Ottawa for their third straight victory.
Demidov scored off Alex Newhook’s rebound and Montreal held on a night after beating Toronto 3-1 at home.
Juraj Slafkovsky and Alexandre Texier also scored for Montreal, with Demidov assisting on Slafkovsky’s power-play goal in the first period.
Texier tied it at 2 on a wraparound with 2:31 left in the second.
Drake Batherson scored twice for Ottawa. Linus Ullmark stopped 20 shots.
Montreal’s Jake Evans played his 400th NHL game.
Philadelphia Flyers' Trevor Zegras (46) scores past Washington Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
LONDON (AP) — Tottenham manager Igor Tudor acknowledged some of his players were struggling to cope with the pressure as the club lurches toward relegation from the Premier League in one of its worst seasons in a generation.
An ever-present in England’s top flight since the 1970s, Spurs are one point above the bottom three with nine games left. They haven’t won their last 11 Premier League matches — dating to last year.
The team also is reeling from a 5-2 thrashing by Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 — during which Tudor substituted goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky in the 17th minute for making two errors leading to goals. After the game, Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven said it was a “really, really awful” period and he no longer checks his phone.
“Some of them, they cannot manage, for sure,” Tudor said on Friday at a news conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to Liverpool in the league. “Some of them, you arrive and you can help them.
“So sometimes you cannot do anything, but most of the time you can do even small changes, small help. But also what I always like to say to the players, ‘Don’t be the victim.’”
Tudor himself is facing plenty of heat after starting his interim reign with four straight losses. He gave a challenge to his players, saying: “You can cry or you can fight.”
"The bottle is always half-empty or half-full,” Tudor said. “Here, there is nothing full. There is a lot of empty things.
“I believe the players will take this challenge as an opportunity. We stand up with the courage to change things after this period — they will become a better person and better players.”
Adding to Tudor’s problems is a list of absentees that is growing by the week.
As well as injuries to key players such as James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Mohammed Kudus and Rodrigo Bentancur, van de Ven is suspended while Cristian Romero and Joao Palhinha will miss the trip to Anfield as they follow concussion protocols after clashing heads against Atletico.
Tudor said on Friday that Yves Bissouma has joined the injury list, too.
Tudor said Guglielmo Vicario would be back as goalkeeper at Liverpool after being dropped against Atletico.
Still, the Croatian coach said Kinsky would play games this season “for sure” despite his nightmarish performance in Madrid.
“He came back the day after and was very good in training,” Tudor said. “He has the strength and quality. In front of him is a very good career.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Tottenham's head coach Igor Tudor, right, gives instructions to Tottenham's Pedro Porro during the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Tottenham in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)
Tottenham's head coach Igor Tudor gives instructions to his players during the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Tottenham in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)
Tottenham's head coach Igor Tudor reacts during the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Tottenham in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)
Tottenham's head coach Igor Tudor looks out from the bench prior to the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Tottenham in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)
