When all looked lost for the Washington Capitals late in the third period of Wednesday's preseason game with the Columbus Blue Jackets, two new faces came through in the clutch to rally them. Unfortunately, it was a familiar face that ultimately doomed them.
Former Caps prospect Alexandre Giroux scored a power play goal with 2:36 left in overtime to send his former team to its second loss in as many nights in a 4-3 overtime defeat.
Jeff Halpern scored his first goal as a Cap since April 2006 to give Washington an early 1-0 lead, but Cam Atkinson, Maxim Mayorov and David Savard scored three unanswered goals for Columbus. Andrew Carroll and Roman Hamrlik responded with two goals in a span of 1:23 at the end of the third period to bring the Caps back to a 3-3 tie and send it to overtime.
With Jeff Schultz off for hooking Rick Nash, Giroux made his former team pay by sending them home with a 0-1-1 record.
Washington will return to preseason action Friday against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center.