The Flyers have limited Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin, right, to only one goal and fours assists in five games.
The Philadelphia Flyers would like hold Alex Ovechkin in check for one more game and eliminate the Washington Capitals at the same time.

The Flyers will get an opportunity to accomplish both when they host the Capitals for Game 6 of their Eastern Conference quarter-final matchup on Monday night.
Philadelphia has so far limited Ovechkin, the NHL's leading scorer in the regular season, to one goal and four assists in five games. While Ovechkin has been relatively quiet, the Flyers blew a chance to finish off the Capitals in Game 5 by dropping a 3-2 decision on Saturday.

Without a win on home ice Monday, the Flyers would have to face Ovechkin in Game 7 in Washington on Tuesday.

"We've got two shots at it, but it's pretty close to a must-win," Flyers forward Joffrey Lupul said on Sunday. "I don't think we were prepared for how hard [the Capitals] were going to come out with their backs against the wall as we should have been."

The Flyers, who hold a 3-2 series lead, began Game 5 slowly and never really picked up the pace until the third period.

"I think [Saturday] we were a little more confident than we should have been," admitted Flyers centre Danny Briere.

Forward Alexander Semin set up the opening goal and netted the winner on a power play at 14:33 of the third period.

Despite not registering a point on Saturday, Ovechkin played his best all-around game, and he even drew a timely hooking penalty that allowed Washington to score on a 5-on-3 power-play.

"In the past, when you stop Alex, you stop the team. I don't think that's so now," said Capitals centre Brooks Laich.

"People expect him to have two goals every game. It doesn't happen," said Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau. "He can contribute in many ways."

On Saturday, Washington took the play to Philadelphia for the first two periods, but the Flyers' consistent pressure in the final minutes of the third nearly sent the game into overtime. Still, Flyers coach John Stevens expected a difficult series and is pleased that his team remains ahead at this point.

"I felt like I was playing Ping-Pong where you had to win by two," Stevens said. "If you didn't win by two, you couldn't win the series. It's not as if Washington is a bad team and we should have rolled them over in four straight."

Philadelphia will attempt to clinch their first post-season series victory in four years without the services of Mike Knuble.

The veteran right winger, who scored the double overtime winning goal in Game 4, suffered a partial tear of his left hamstring with less than four minutes to play in the second period on Saturday and will miss the rest of the series.

"I take pride in being a player that's in the lineup a lot," Knuble said. "To have something like this take you out, and you pretty much did it to yourself, is the frustrating part."
CBC