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Alex Ovechkin rallied the Washington Capitals to a 4-2 victory over Eastern Conference rival the Philadelphia Flyers.

Ovechkin scored twice, including the first of four unanswered goals, for the Capitals (7-2-2) who notched their fifth successive win and extended their lead in the Southeast Division to seven points.

"It was a great game, especially coming back from (0-2) deficit," Ovechkin said.

Capitals goaltender Jose Theodore allowed two early goals from Scott Hartnell and Braydon Coburn in the first period before Ovechkin's snap shot at 16:08 in the second put Washington on the board and Nicklas Backstrom tied the game two minutes later.

Alexander Semin, in the line-up after missing the previous two games, scored the go-ahead goal at 5:24 in the third before Ovechkin capped the scoring with an empty-netter with 46 seconds remaining.

Ovechkin took the league lead with 11 goals while Theodore made a season-high 41 saves.

"I'm just trying to limit teams to one or two goals a game, and with this team we have we should win," Theodore said.

"We have a good thing going."

Philadelphia (5-4-1) pressured late with 20 shots on goal in the third but could not capitalise on their chances. Flyers goalie Ray Emery made 32 saves in the defeat.

The contest was the second entertaining game of the season between the teams after Philadelphia beat Washington 6-5 in overtime on October 6.

NHL results (home team in CAPS):

WASHINGTON 4 Philadelphia 2

Colorado 3 EDMONTON 0

Detroit 5 VANCOUVER 4

Reuters