LANDOVER — LANDOVER -- All the Washington Capitals had to do was read the summaries before last night's game to know the Philadelphia Flyers were going to be trouble before the game ended.
The Flyers love the third period. They live for the third periodYou can look it up.
The Flyers had outscored the opposition, 7-0, in the third period.
The Flyers had rallied from 3-1 after two periods to tie thPittsburgh Penguins, 3-3.
The Flyers had rallied from a 4-3 deficit in New Jersey on Fridato beat the Devils, 6-4.
Today, the summary says the Flyers have done it again, rallyinfrom a 2-1 deficit to beat the Caps, 4-2.
"We can't count on it all year, but certainly it turned out to be a fantastic week," said Flyers coach Bill Dineen, whose son, Kevin, scored the winning goal with 10:08 to play. "Going into two divisional teams' buildings and coming out with three out of four [possible] points, we couldn't ask for more."
The Capitals and coach Terry Murray would like some of those points. After surviving in Toronto in the season opener, 6-5, the Caps have put together back-to-back games in which they have struggled to score.
"You have to want the puck in order to play," said Murray. "Last year, we were really hungry going straight ahead. Right now, it's carry the puck and go as far as you can. No one is jumping on loose pucks."
The Caps took the lead in the final 31 seconds of the seconperiod, when Kelly Miller shook things up and assisted on the go-ahead goal by Mike Ridley.
But in the third period, it was the Flyers who wanted the puck.
With 11:53 to go in the game, the Flyers changed the pace. They put on the pressure, and when Al Iafrate and Jason Woolley lost the puck behind the Caps' net, Greg Paslawski made them pay with a wrist shot over goalie Don Beaupre's shoulder.
Just 90 seconds later, Dineen scored his unassistegame-winner. Keith Acton scored the final goal into an open net with 15 seconds left.
The loss leaves the Caps 1-2 on the new season, and 0-2 againsPatrick Division foes. The Caps will try again in New Jersey tomorrow night.
"I thought we outplayed them pretty much all night," said the Capitals' Kevin Miller. "We just didn't score when we had our chances."
Philadelphia's Mark Recchi smacked a shot past Beaupre with 6:57 left in the second period to tie it at 1, and it stayed that way until 31 seconds remained in the period.
Enter Kelly Miller. First he throttled the Flyers' Dimitri Yushkevich against the right boards. Then, after Kevin Miller picked up the loose puck, Kelly got it back. He held it on the end of his stick for an instant before flicking it to Ridley.
The Caps' skillful center handled the pass and Flyers defender Brian Benning at the same time and beat Flyers goalie Dominic Roussel with a shot to the right side.
The first period started with body slams along the boards and progressed to the point where Flyers rookie Eric Lindros simply used his stick like a baseball bat. He took a swing at the back of Kelly Miller's head behind the Caps' goal
The show of force by both sides early on sent a message thathis game would not be like the night before. Friday, in the Caps' home opener, the New York Rangers controlled the puck and the Caps, skating off with a 4-2 victory.
That result left Murray wanting his team to show more "grit," angrit is exactly what he got.
Washington got off 16 shots to Philadelphia's seven in thopening 20 minutes. And while it wasn't until 15:31 had lapsed in the period that it got on the scoreboard, it seemed Washington had the best of the early play.
Philadelphia 0 1 3 -- 4
Washington 1 1 0 -- 2