Capitals End Preseason With Win

The Washington Capitals finished the preseason schedule with a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Day 17. With the victory the Capitals finished at 2-3-3 for the exhibition season.

Philadelphia started the game off quickly with a pair of penalties just two seconds apart. Lapointe went to the box first for cross-checking at 1:10, and Hendrickson joined him for goalie interference. Washington was not able to capitalize on the power play time, but Todd Warriner did open the account several minutes later. He scored his fifth of the preseason from Andrew Ference and Artem Chubarov at 6:06. Washington then went shorthanded on Michal Rozsival's elbowing minor at 8:53, and the Flyers made them pay when Hendrickson tied the game from Ruutu and Vandermeer at 10:06. Things took a rough turn after Hendrickson's goal as Philadelphia's Zultek took a major for kicking at 11:02. The Capitals returned the favor after the penalty time was up when Sheldon Souray took a major of his own for head-butting at 17:56. Once again the Flyers took advantage of the man advantage. This time it was Savage scoring from Varada and Hendrickson at 19:38 to give Philadelphia a 2-1 lead going into the intermission.

The rough stuff continued in the second period as the teams came out hitting and fighting. Philadelphia's Hatcher dropped the gloves with Boris Mironov at 4:41, and it was a one-sided affair. The big American beat up the Russian. The Flyers then upped their lead to 3-1 on Lapointe's fourth goal of the preseason from Ruutu and Hendrickson. Trailing 3-1, the Capitals were not looking good, and the situation got even worse when Souray took a double-minor for highsticking at 10:13. Amazingly, Washington turned the game on its head as a pair of shorthanded goals 1:43 apart tied the score at 3-3. Rob Blake scored the first from Zigmund Palffy and Patrick Marleau at 11:04, and Rozsival notted the game from Dan Boyle and Palffy at 12:57. Washington continued the surge just under five minutes later when Mikael Renberg converted from Jonathan Cheechoo and Greg Watson to make it 4-3.

Neither team maanged a goal in the final period, but there was still plenty of action for the fans. First Lapointe and Souray fought to a draw 1:11 into the action. Souray was ejected for his violent play and he also received a five game suspension. Rozsival then earned Washington's second game misconduct of the period when he went to the box 42 seconds later for elbowing. The rest of the period saw five more minors and a ten minute misconduct to Philadelphia's Helenius.

Tommy Salo stopped 17 shots to pickup the win and improve to 1-1. Felix Potvin had 20 saves for the Flyers.