PHILADELPHIA _ The Flyers' Carter Hart and Washington's Braden Holtby have known each other for six years, having been introduced by their sports psychologist, John Stevenson.
The rivals have become friends, and on Wednesday, they went head to head in an old-fashioned goaltenders' duel.
Advantage, Holtby.
Barely.
Evgeny Kuzentsov scored what proved to be the winner in the shootout as the Capitals outlasted the Flyers, 2-1, at the Wells Fargo Center.
Washington, which had a 2-1 edge in shootout goals, ran its point streak to 13 games (11-0-2).
The Flyers, who got a goal from Claude Giroux in the three-round shootout, overcame a slow start and increased their point streak to seven games (5-0-2).
Hart was the No. 1 reason they salvaged a point.
Sean Couturier hit the post with 1:46 to go in overtime and later was twice denied by Holtby in front.
With just under a minute left, Alex Ovechkin shot wide on a breakaway.
Welcome to the shootout, the Flyers' third straight shootout. (They went past regulation for the sixth time in their last seven games.)
Early in the third period, Jake Voracek went around defenseman Radko Gudas _ who was playing his first game against the Flyers since they traded him to Washington for Matt Niskanen last June _ and created a two-on-one down low. Giroux turned into a power-play goal, knotting the score at 1-1 with 13:22 left in regulation.
Niskanen had drawn a tripping penalty from Nic Dowd, putting the Flyers on their fourth power-play of the night.
Hart made a tough save on John Carlson from in close with 3:54 left in regulation Less than a minute later, he calmly stopped Tom Wilson from point-blank range.
With 31 seconds left in regulation and Wilson in alone, Hart got a piece of Wilson's shot and it trickled wide.
The Caps had a 36-31 shots edge, and both goalies were superb.
Hart entered the night having won four straight and compiling a 1.91 GAA and .929 save percentage in that span.
Earlier, with the Flyers facing a 1-0 deficit and 18:44 left in the second, Oskar Lindblom was denied from the slot by Holtby after a Gudas turnover. Up until that point, it was the Flyers' best chance of the game.
The Flyers were unable to generate much attack time, so coach Alain Vigneault put his lines in a blender and mixed them up early in the second. He made changes to three of the four units, with only the Lindblom-Sean Couturier-Travis Konecny line remaining intact.
The Flyers had several golden chances late in the second period.
Just after their power-play expired, Konecny had Holtby beaten from the high slot, but his shot kissed off the right post with a a little under five minutes left in the second.
A short time later, Holtby made great save to turn aside Travis Sanheim's tip-in attempt in front.
The Flyers outshot the Caps, 12-6, in the second period.
"Our second period was definitely much better than our first," left winger James van Riemsdyk said. "Our first wasn't anywhere near close to where we wanted to play."
The Capitals dominated virtually every aspect of the game as they built a 1-0 first-period lead on a goal by fourth-line left winger Brendan Leipsic.
Washington won most of the board battles, had its forecheck frustrating the Flyers, and spent most of the opening period in the hosts' end, outshooting them, 16-5.
Hart's goaltending was the only reason the Capitals didn't have at least a 3-0 first-period lead. Hart made 15 saves in the period and denied Richard Panik, who was in alone, and he made and outstanding glove save on Leipsic from the slot with 6:37 left in the first.
Earlier in the period, Leipsic, whose fourth line was matched against Kevin Hayes' unit with Voracek and Carsen Twarynski, scored on a rebound of a Carlson shot, putting the Caps ahead, 1-0, with 13:47 remaining in the first.
Carlson, a defenseman, collected his team-high 30th point in 20 games.
The Flyers were coming off back-to-back road victories over Toronto and Boston, winning each game in a shootout.
But this was their supreme test, facing a Washington team that had not lost in regulation since Oct. 14.
"We're playing some good hockey lately," Vigneault said before the game. "We'll be tested, and I'm anxious to see how we're going to respond."
