During the first period of Thursday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Washington Capitals saved their best for last.
Mathieu Perreault and Alex Ovechkin scored 68 seconds apart within the last two minutes of the first period as the Caps lead the Flyers 2-1 after 20 minutes.
The Caps' first golden opportunity to take the lead came when Braydon Coburn's high sticking penalty on Brooks Laich became a double minor when it caused the latter to bleed. Yet, 39 seconds later, Ovechkin interfered with Maxime Talbot behind the Caps' goal, which nullified their four-minute advantage. Giroux scored his fifth goal of the season during the ensuing 4-on-4 play when Wayne Simmonds pressured Alexander Semin at the point and knocked the puck away. Giroux corralled the loose puck at the blueline and used three dekes to beat Tomas Vokoun with a wrist shot that gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead at 14:25.
Perreault tied the game with 1:20 left in the period when he picked off Scott Hartnell's outlet pass and threw the puck on net. Perreault's shot deflected off Coburn and past Ilya Bryzgalov for his first goal of the season.
Ovechkin gave the Caps a 2-1 lead just 1:08 later when the rebound of Nicklas Backstrom's stuff attempt came right to him in the crease for the easy put-back.
Shots are tied at 11-11.