On Thanksgiving Day in 2007, the Washington Capitals fired their head coach Glen Hanlon. They also had an NHL-worst 6-14-1 (13 points) record.
Taking over for head coach would be Bruce Boudreau from the Hershey Bears and after eating turkey the Washington Capitals headed up to Philadelphia for a Black Friday matinee matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Boudreau made his debut behind the bench and the Capitals got off to a strong start scoring the first three goals. Early in the game after Scott Hartnell was called for boarding, Mike Green struck on the power play to put the Capitals ahead 1-0 at 2:27.
When the Capitals entered the zone, Tom Poti found Nicklas Backstrom. Backstrom passed it cross-ice and Green finished with the one-timer for his fourth goal of the season.
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The Capitals doubled their lead at 3:39 in the second period with Victor Kozlov finding Chris Clark with a quick pass. Clack went top shelf right in front of the net. Like Green, it was Clark’s fourth of the season. Poti once again had the secondary assist.
At 14:11, Donald Brashear deflected in a shot from Shaone Morrisonn to make it 3-0 Washington. They say two goal leads are the most dangerous in hockey. Three goal leads aren’t safe either sometimes.
The Flyers stormed right back with three unanswered goals. Clark and Hartnell got in a fight 47 seconds after the goal. but Clark was called for instigating, awarding Philadelphia with a four-minute power play.
Danny Briere pushed it past Olaf Kolzig to put the Flyers on the board. They didn’t add another goal on the long power play but the Flyers did pull within one shortly after at even strength with a goal from Jeff Carter.
The Flyers tied it in the third at 15:45 with a rebound from Mike Richards off the pads of Kolzig. It set the stage for an epic overtime. On his 20th birthday, Nicklas Backstrom came up clutch. After Alex Ovechkin was tangled up with a defender, he got a light pass off to Backstrom. Backstrom went top shelf for the 4-3 win.
Although this game was a late November contest, it was an integral point of the season. Not just from the standpoint of a recent coaching change. The victory sparked the beginning of a turnaround that culminated in the Capitals taking home a Southeast Division title.
These two teams met again in the first round of the playoffs and recouped a rivalry between the two clubs.