Capitals Continue Free-Fall

The Washington Capitals slumped to its fourth straight loss on Day 44 when the Calgary Flames scored on its only shot of overtime to record a 6-5 victory. The loss dropped Washington to 12th in the Wales Conference at 8-13-3.

Calgary jumped out to a 1-0 lead early in the first period when Gagne netted from Brind'Amour and Knyazev at 1:28. The Capitals responded with a pair of goals to take a 2-1 lead. Oleg Saprykin scored first from Jonathan Cheechoo and Bryan Berard at 10:10, before Cheechoo converted on the power play from Carl Corazzini and Mark Eaton at 15:25.

Washington extended its lead to two early in the middle stanza when Saprykin scored his second of the game at 1:45. Dan Boyle and Berard assisted. The Flames took over from there and scored three times to go ahead 4-3. O'Neill started the rally from Gionta and Naslund at 8:15, before Brind'Amour netted from Pyatt and Gagne at 12:59. Eaves gave Calgary the lead from Hainsey and Pyatt on the power play at 15:46.

The Flames opened the final period with its fourth straight goal at 5:09. Hainsey was the scorer from Polushin and Eaves. The Caps came alive after falling two goals down. Frantisek Lukes made it 5-4 from Boyle and David Vyborny on the power play at 7:07. Zigmund Palffy completed the comeback from Artem Chubarov and Cheechoo at 11:10.

Washington carried its momentum into the overtime period and were outshooting Calgary 4-0 in the extra session when Avery popped up with his first of the season from Hainsey and Naslund to give the home club the victory.

Manny Legace made 27 saves for Washington. Kevin Weekes stopped five shots in relief but took the loss and fell to 4-5. Steve Shields made 27 saves to earn the win.

The clubs complete the home-and-home series on Day 46 in Washington.