NHL: Joel Ward scores hat-trick in Capitals' 7-0 rout of Flyers

Joel Ward: Hat-trick hero for the Washington Capitals

Ovechkin missed the trip with an upper-body injury but Joel Ward more than picked up the slack as he scored his first NHL hat-trick in a game that degenerated into a series of fights.

The Capitals led 1-0 at the end of the first period, but that had become 6-0 by the end of the second with two goals from Ward, two from Nicklas Backstrom and one apiece from Jason Chimera and Troy Brouwer.

Ward went on to complete his hat-trick 5:23 into the final period, but that goal sparked a massive brawl that even saw goalies Ray Emery and Braden Holtby drop their gloves.

Emery received a total of 29 penalty minutes for leaving the goal crease, instigating a fight, and fighting and he was eventually ejected from the game as well.

Philadelphia, who are off to a 3-9 start, piled up 99 penalty minutes in total with their new recruit Steve Downie getting 15 of those on his debut for the team - Brayden Schenn and Vincent Lecavalier were also handed game misconduct penalties.

Elsewhere, Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn were among the scorers for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 3-0 shutout of the Hurricanes in Carolina and Kris Letang scored for the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Frans Nielsen scored the shootout winner for the New York Islanders in a wild 5-4 win over the Ottawa Senators and Alex Steen scored for the sixth straight game as the St Louis Blues blanked the Florida Panthers 4-0.

Jason Pominville had three points for the Minnesota Wild in a 4-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens and Justin Abdelkader's late goal earned the Detroit Red Wings a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames.

And there was a win for Semyon Varlamov at the end of a tumultuous week as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 in overtime.

Varlamov was allowed to travel to Texas after posting a bond of $5,000 two days after spending the night in jail for an alleged assault against his girlfriend.