Braden Holtby kissed his mask twice before he fastened it over his head, part of his pregame routine. As the fans at Verizon Center chanted his name, he stuck to the routine, squirting water into his mouth from a Gatorade bottle, heedless of the commotion.

The lasting image for the goaltender opposite him: a head hung in dismay, the realization of an unthinkable mistake. A dump-in attempt that was tipped at center ice had gotten through his legs. Steve Mason looked down at the puck in his net and swatted it out with his stick.

Holtby made 41 saves to help the Capitals earn a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Washington has a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round series, which moves to Philadelphia for the next two games.

Less than three minutes into the second period, defenseman Karl Alzner swatted a puck down the ice for the dump-in attempt. At center ice, Jason Chimera got his blade on it, making it change direction. In pivoting to get a pad on the puck, Mason left his five-hole exposed, and the puck got through.

The goal gave the Capitals a 2-0 lead they were fortunate to have after the Flyers held a 19-5 shots-on-goal advantage after the first period.

With 14:09 remaining in the first period, Brandon Manning drew a penalty for holding on to Evgeny Kuznetsov's stick. Thirty-seven seconds into the power play, John Carlson fired a wrist shot from the point, and it cleanly navigated its way into the net.

The Flyers cut the deficit to one with a goal by Jakub Voracek on an odd-man rush, but a holding penalty on Mark Streit 16:42 into the second period gave the Capitals' power play another chance, and Ovechkin scored for a 3-1 lead.

Rangers 4, Penguins 2: Keith Yandle and Derick Brassard scored 18 seconds apart in the second period, Henrik Lundqvist looked just fine dealing with an eye injury and New York stopped host Pittsburgh, evening the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at one game each.

Stars 2, Wild 1: Antoine Roussel scored from behind the net without the puck touching a stick and Jamie Benn had an unassisted goal, and Dallas beat Minnesota for a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference playoff series.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.