After a tight first period, the second period opened up as the Washington Capitals and Calgary Flames exchanged goals within 10 minutes with the former holding a 3-1 lead over the latter after 40 minutes.
Troy Brouwer padded Washington's lead at 8:49 when he corralled Alex Ovechkin's rebound from the point and chipped it past Miikka Kiprusoff for his 11th goal of the season. It was the Caps' second power play goal of the game and fourth in their last five opportunities.
Curtis Glencross, however, cut the lead in half at 13:51 when he took a centering pass from Jarome Iginla from behind the net and beat Tomas Vokoun for his 16th goal of the season.
The Caps restored their two-goal lead about three minutes after Glencross' goal. Marcus Johansson brought the puck into the zone and was sandwiched by Cory Sarich and Scott Hannan. Johansson lost the puck, but Sarich and Hannan also lost their footing. This allowed Nicklas Backstrom to grab the loose puck, take it behind the net and find Dennis Wideman for a one-timer. It was Wideman's seventh goal of the season and Backstrom's third assist of the game.