With the Flyers holding on to a 3-1 lead midway through the third period, no one could have predicted that the teams would combine to score as many goals in the final 10 minutes as they had scored all game.
But that's what one should come to expect from these two teams. The unexpected. And after a fairly quiet opening two periods, the two highest scoring teams in the league did not disappoint in the end.
It seemed as if the entire game was played with odd numbers. All three of the Capitals' third period goals came on the power play. Nicklas Backstrom scored with 11:03 gone in the period, and Jason Chimera tied it up just 28 seconds later. After Andreas Nodl pushed the Flyers back in front, Eric Fehr sent the game into overtime with under a minute remaining and Michal Neuvirth on the bench the give the Capitals a 6-on-4 advantage.
The Capitals faced almost half of the overtime period down a man as Nicklas Backstrom headed to the box with an interference penalty, but the Washington penalty kill came through again to force a shootout.
It was Philadelphia's Brian Boucher who came up big though. He made glove saves on the first two shots by Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin. Then, following a Danny Briere score through Neuvirth's five-hole, Boucher and the Flyers got the extra point as Alexander Semin's final shot went off the left post, off the crossbar, and out.
After a day off tomorrow, the Capitals will take to the road with games against the New Jersey Devils on Monday and Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday.