This Date in Caps History - December 3

On December 3, 1976, the Washington Capitals and the Philadelphia Flyers skated to a 4-4 tie at the Capital Centre in Landover in front of a crowd of 17,626.

Philadelphia scored first when Reggie Leach converted Bobby Clarke's power play feed and beat Washington's Bernie Wolfe at 8:33 of the first period. Just under four minutes later, Philly pushed its lead to 2-0 on a goal by Battleship Bob Kelly. With just 1:10 left in the first, Washington halved the lead on an unassisted goal by rookie defenseman Rick Green. Green's shot beat Philadelphia netminder Bernie Parent. The Flyers outshot the Capitals 13-9 in the first period.

Guy Charron knotted the score for Washington with a goal at 7:03 of the second period. Ace Bailey and Jack Lynch picked up the helpers on Charron's tally. The stalemate stood until Philly's Tom Bladon beat Wolfe with just 12 seconds left in the period. The Flyers took a 3-2 lead into the second intermission. Washington doubled up Philly in second period shots on goal, 12-6.

The Caps came out and quickly regained a tie in the third. Ron Lalonde scored just 38 seconds into the final frame with Lynch picking up his second helper of the night. With just 3:45 left in the game, Leach converted another Clarke feed to give Philadelphia a 4-3 advantage. Late in the game, the Caps pulled Wolfe in favor of a sixth skater. The gambit paid off with 30 seconds remaining when Hartland Monahan beat Parent to gain a tie and a standings point for Washington. Gerry Meehan and Green were credited with assists on the game-tying goal.

It marked the first time in franchise history the Capitals had ever scored a goal when pulling their goaltender late in a game.