Cam Atkinson's goal two minutes into the third period snapped a 1-1 tie and stood up as the game-winner. Making his first start of the preseason, Caps goalie Ilya Samsonov stopped 28 of the 31 shots he faced in the game.
With Saturday's game in the books, the Caps are now halfway through their preseason slate of six games.
"Every game is a little bit different," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "The lineups are changing, so it's hard to clump it all in. There's been some good things that we've done and definitely some things that we've got to do better.
"All three games, I thought we turned the puck over too much, tonight for sure. Tonight it not only led to us going down and playing defense, but ultimately scoring chances and goals against. We've got to do a better job of taking care of the puck. We've got a lot of kids in there to look at them and see how they did. I thought they played pretty well."
The two sides traded power-play goals before the first television timeout of the first frame. With Philly's Oskar Lindblom sitting out an early tripping call, the Caps jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Aliaksei Protas' power-play goal at 3:18 of the first. Trevor van Riemsdyk's center point shot was held up in traffic, but dropped right at Protas' feet, and he quickly fired it home from the slot.
With Washington's Brett Leason in the box for hi-sticking, Flyers captain Claude Giroux cranked a one-timer from the top half of the left circle to the far-right corner of the cage behind Samsonov. Giroux's goal came at 5:41, knotting the score at 1-1.
The Caps killed off two more Philly power play bids in the first.
Early in the second, the Caps were a bit wobbly and Philadelphia was taking it to them in the Washington end until Flyers winger Travis Konecny was sent off for cross-checking at 4:36. Although the Caps didn't score on the ensuing power play, they found their footing and were sharper over the rest of the period, which included a stretch of more than five and a half minutes without a whistle.
With just under three minutes left in the second, the two teams returned to their respective dressing rooms because of a problem with the power at Wells Fargo Center. At the end of the second intermission, the two teams finished the second period before switching ends for the third.
Two minutes into the final frame, long-time Caps killer Atkinson scored against them for the first time in a Flyers sweater.
Samsonov stopped Risto Ristolainen's right point shot, but Lindblom collected the rebound and fed Atkinson above the paint. The former Columbus forward fought off Caps defenseman Justin Schultz and pushed the puck into the net for a 2-1 Philadelphia lead.
With just over three minutes remaining in regulation, Philly tacked on an insurance tally. After the Caps turned the puck over high in Philadelphia ice, Nicolas Aube-Kubel sent Scott Laughton up the middle and into Washington territory on a breakaway. The Philly forward tucked it five-hole to make it a 3-1 game with 3:04 remaining.
Martin Jones stopped 21 of 22 shots he faced to earn the win for the Flyers.
The Caps are back in action on Monday night against the Devils in New Jersey.
