After two periods at the Verizon Center, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals are tied.
The Penguins took the 1-0 lead in the first period on Craig Adams's second goal of the season. Arron Asham gave Adams a beautiful feed, coming from behind the net and drawing the Caps defense and goalie Tomas Vokoun. Asham quickly saw a streaking Adams and put a crossing pass right on his stick. Adams fired it home for the opening goal, as Vokoun never had a chance.
Just seconds later, Caps tough guy John Erskine immediately dropped the gloves with Asham on the subsequent faceoff. Erskine was looking to avenge the beating Asham put on his teammate, Jay Beagle, who has not played since Asham knocked him out in the clubs first meeting this season. Both guys are renowned for the fighting abilities, and they both landed heavy blows.
Jason Chimera evened it up at 1-1 for the Washington Capitals, just over a minute into the second period. Joel Ward hustled down the ice for Washington to prevent an icing call. The Caps then played interchange behind the net before the puck finally settled on the stick of Chimera in the corner. The Caps leading goal scorer slowly brought the puck from the corner, and Marc-Andre Fleury retreated deep into the net, expecting a pass to Ward who was skating down the center of the ice. Instead, Chimera unexpectedly flipped a backhand up and over the glove of Fleury, who was caught in no-man's land. It was the first time he's ever beaten the Pens netminder for a goal.
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