[Drew]

CAPITAL LOSS

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Washington's Nicklas Backstrom celebrated his 20th birthday with a perfect gift for the Capitals' new interim head coach.

Backstrom scored in overtime to make Bruce Boudreau's debut a success with a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday.

Backstrom, who also had two assists, slipped a loose puck past Philadelphia goaltender Marty Biron at 1:55 of the extra period to snap the Capitals' five-game losing streak.

"I really don't know what happened," Backstrom said. "The puck came to me and I waited out (Biron) and it worked."

Philadelphia's Mike Richards had tied the score on a rebound goal with 4:15 left in regulation.

Mike Green, Chris Clark, and Donald Brashear also scored for the Capitals, who squandered a 3-0 lead. Tom Poti added two assists for Washington.

Danny Briere and Jeff Carter also scored for the Flyers, who were outshot 35-25.

The 52-year-old Boudreau was named to the interim position Thursday, replacing Glen Hanlon, who was fired a day after the Capitals lost to the Atlanta Thrashers, 5-1. He took over a team that had lost nine of its previous 10, and 15 of 18.

Boudreau said that he wasn't really worried or thinking about his emotions before the game.

"I was really thinking about the players and trying to make sure that they were positive about themselves," Boudreau said. "They were playing such a good game that there was no way something bad was going to happen in the end."

Despite the win over the Flyers, Washington has the worst record in the National Hockey League (7-14-1) and has compiled a league-low 15 points.

Boudreau said that there is a lot of work to be done but doesn't expect to make major changes.

"It's subtle changes, not like you're revamping the whole thing" he explained. "I just think the mind-set sometimes has got to change, and the culture's got to change. They've got to believe that they're really good players."

Green put the Capitals ahead with a power-play goal at 2:27 of the first period. He scored on a one-timer from the left circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Backstrom.

Clark made it 2-0 at 3:39 of the second period, streaking down the right side and scoring from the slot.

Brashear, a former Flyer, picked up his first point of the season at 14:11 of the period by deflecting Shaone Morrison's shot from the point.

The Flyers then made it close by scoring twice in a span of 2:04.

Briere hammered in a loose puck on a power play at 15:45 after Clark received a major penalty for fighting Scott Hartnell and was also called for instigation, unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10-minute misconduct.

Briere said that it is difficult to a play against a team making its first appearance under a new coach.

"Whenever you face a team playing for a new coach, their guys want to prove obviously that they can play," Briere said. "They want to show that they can do the job in certain situations. They all have a little extra jump in their legs and it showed in the first half of the game. Those guys were skating and playing hard."

Carter poked the puck between goaltender Olie Kolzig's pads at 17:49, but the Flyers eventually paid for their slow start.

"I don't know if it was from the turkey or whatever, but we just didn't come out like we wanted to today," said Philadelphia's Scott Hartnell. "After the first period (coach) Johnny (Stevens) was in here yelling at us, trying to get us going."

With the addition of such free agents as Michael Nylander, Viktor Kozlov and Poti, the Capitals were expected to be a major contender in the Southeast Division this season, especially after winning their first three games.

"I approach it as the start of a new season," Kolzig said. "We're still in a deep hole and we've got a lot of work to do. It's a good start. We beat a pretty good hockey team in their own building."

Boudreau, who ran his first practice with the Capitals on Thursday morning, won the 2006 Calder Cup title with the Hershey Bears, the Capitals' American Hockey League affiliate. He also guided the Bears to the league's Eastern Conference championship and Calder Cup finals again last season.

Coincidentally, the Bears were scheduled to play the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers' AHL affiliate, on Friday night on the same Wachovia Center ice.

A third-round draft pick of Toronto in the 1975 NHL draft, Boudreau played parts of eight seasons with the Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks, recording 70 points in 141 games.


Notes: The Flyers, who dropped all four games to Washington last season, have split two games with the Capitals this year. ... Washington LW Alex Ovechkin extended his point streak to seven straight games (5-3-8) with an assist on Backstrom's goal. ... Flyers LW Simon Gagne missed his seventh straight game (concussion).

[Drew]

I just got back from the game (after making a McDonalds run WAY out of the way for my son ). It was a good game, but the Caps outhustled us for much of it. Being down 3-0 and storming back to force at OT was impressive, but we stole a point. Still, was this last year's club, we would have never seen a comeback like that. Exciting nonetheless.

It was good meeting you Drew (the shirt ROCKS!!), and Kevin, good to see you again bro. My brother was at the game, and I only saw him hanging over the 2nd tier balcony shitfaced.

I was on the bench with my wife and son for the warmups. Briere gave me a puck off his stick (wow!!!), and Jim Dowd had a talk with my son (and gave him a puck). I also had a nice talk with Coatesy. We had some pretty decent lower level seats for the game in section 109. I'll have some pics soon.

[Rex]

Like Drew said, they stole a point. The Flyers didn't deserve to get anything out of this game. Alexander Ovechkin is a monster, and he was the reason Backstrom got so open for the winning goal, as both defenders converged on Alex.

Here is a link to my photos that I put on facebook. I'm sure a few of you can defintley see them, but you all should. Let me know if you can't.

http://ut.facebook.com/album.php?aid...&id=1332510073

[dudebeer]

it's like they don't get their legs till halfway through a game, then they play some real hockey. Caps had something to play for (new coach) and are an extremely fast team to begin with. Got a point, and can't wait for a rematch of Cote/Brashear

[Pope Pogo II]

Here's my take, I hope im not overstepping my boundaries with this...

I'm starting to notice a bit of a trend with the Flyers this season and especially as of late, seems as though we either play up, or play down to a team. Now either the Flyers ate too much turkey, or drank the night away remains a mystery, but one thing is certain. The Capitals came to Philadelphia to win for their new coach Bruce Boudreau, and the Flyers especially in the first, just showed up.

Niklas Backstrom on his 20th birthday showed flashes of future brilliance on the first powerplay with a perfect pass to Mike Green to put the Caps up 1-0. It wasn't like we weren't given opportunities to tie it up then, we also had a long 5 on 3 powerplay that for the most part, we just threw away. After the Caps took a 3-0 lead, the Flyers then showed up starting off with a Danny Briere goal followed by Carter about 2 minutes later. It looked as though the Flyers were going to not only tie it up, but take the game. Kolzig remained strong in the third period, but so did the Flyers as Mike Richards scored to knot it up at three, right after he left the ice with what looked to be a leg injury.

In overtime Niklas Backstrom was given his birthday present with a wide open net.

I'll be honest here, I'm happy we were even able to get a point especially after being down 3-0, but COME ON!!! After beating a ridiculously good Carolina team 6-3... to even be down 3 to the lowly (no offense) Capitals is just insane, granted Kolzig and the Caps played a great game, but how great of a game do you honestly think they would have played, if we came to play for 60 minutes? This was a game we should have won, and now we risk losing 2 straight to a rested Ottawa Senators team tomorrow in Ottawa. The Flyers need to wake up, you can, with the type of skill this team has, win some games only showing up here and there, but it is eventually going to come back and hurt you, and it did today, and it has for a good portion of this season.

Three Stars
Mike Richards Still showing he belongs in the ALL STAR game.
Danny Briere Gets another goal and now has 5 in his last 4.
Jeff Carter scored an important goal right after Briere.

Unsung Hero
RJ Umberger, Assisting on Jeff Carter and Mike Richards goals.