WASHINGTON — The Philadelphia Flyers’ final countdown began on Tuesday night.

Playing in their 74th game of the season, and facing a Washington Capitals team clinging to their own playoff dreams, the Flyers had a chance to gain some ground but instead fell, 6-4.

The loss ended the Flyers’ winning streak at three games; they have not won four in a row since Feb. 6-12, 2023.

It also spoiled Porter Martone’s debut, who was drafted sixth overall in the 2025 NHL draft.

Martone did not look out of place. He skated on a line with Christian Dvorak and Travis Konecny, the latter of whom was his linemate during exhibition games for Canada at the Ice Hockey World Championships last May.

The 19-year-old played more than 16 minutes, got tagged one penalty for a delay of game, and had five shot attempts and three shots on goal, including a one-timer off a pass from Konecny as they were rushing into the zone. He made a great play in the third period with the Flyers down by two, when he backchecked on a play that turned into a two-on-one, and knocked away the pass across the ice.

Skating in his 900th game, Washington’s Tom Wilson opened the scoring with just over five minutes left in the first period. Skating in two-on-two against Rasmus Ristolainen and Travis Sanheim, he took a drop pass from Pierre-Luc Dubois and sent the shot against the grain and past Dan Vladař’s blocker.

It is the 47th time in 74 games that the Flyers have trailed first.

Less than four minutes later, they found themselves in a 2-0 hole when Alex Ovechkin registered his 927th regular-season goal.

The Capitals gained the offensive zone, and Connor McMichael dished the puck to defenseman Matt Roy, who was trailing. He had room and skated down to the net before sending a pass into the crease, where Jamie Drysdale tried to clear, but Ovechkin swooped in and knocked it home.

An unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, there is a strong possibility that the game was “The Great 8’s” last game against the Flyers.

But the Flyers battled back, and before the clock hit five minutes in the second period, it was all tied up.

Just 39 seconds into the frame, Sanheim scored during four-on-four action, firing a one-timer off a pass from Konecny. However, the referees said there was goaltender interference by Christian Dvorak and called off the goal. Coach Rick Tocchet and his staff challenged the call because Dvorak actually never touched Capitals goalie Logan Thompson as he crashed the net. The replay showed that Capitals defenseman Martin Fehérváry’s stick touched Thompson, and after review, the goal counted.

Sanheim has nine goals on the season, one shy of his career high set in 2023-24. The primary assist extended Konecny’s point streak to three games (goal, three assists) and gave him 64 points in 70 games. Dvorak got the secondary assist for his 45th point of the season.

Under four minutes later, it was Carl Grundström getting on the board for the first time since Feb. 3 — which just happened to be against the Capitals too.

The Flyers dumped the puck in, and Owen Tippett put a little bit of pressure on Roy, causing him to send a somewhat blind pass up off the boards. Trevor Zegras got there first and sent a quick, zinging backhand to the front of the net where Grundström was. The Swede took it and scored around the left pad of Thompson.

The good vibes didn’t last long, however, as the Capitals retook the lead just over two minutes later on a goal by Jakob Chychrun. Off an offensive-zone faceoff during a power-play, Ryan Leonard sent the puck over to the big defenseman, and he fired off the one-timer past Vladař. Leonard scored to make it 4-2 with his own power-play goal later in the period.

But once again, the Flyers tried to charge back in the third period.

Less than 40 seconds in, Sanheim made a good play in the defensive zone that started the rush up the ice. Martone got the puck on a two-on-one with Konecny and tried to pass it over.

The play was broken up, but Sanheim was there to get the loose puck and to send it over to Konecny, who just missed short side. He got the puck and fed it in front to Dvorak for his 16th goal of the season, putting him one shy of his career high.

Ovechkin made it 5-3 when he was left alone in front and reached to tap in a pass from McMichael. It was Ovechkin’s 54th goal and 86th point in 82 regular-season games against Philly.

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