It was almost the perfect comeback.
In front of a frenzied sellout crowd at Verizon Center on Tuesday night, the Capitals were one win away from making history against the Philadelphia Flyers.
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Unfortunately, it was just one game too many. For the second time in this best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal, the Caps were beaten in overtime.
This time the loss also put an end to their remarkable season. Flyers forward Joffrey Lupul scored the game-winning goal at six minutes, 6 seconds into overtime to lift Philadelphia to a deciding Game 7 victory, 3-2.
The Flyers took advantage of an early power play in overtime thanks to a trip on Caps defenseman Tom Poti. Philadelphia defenseman Kimmo Timonen pounced on a loose puck and fired a shot on Capsgoalie Cristobal Huet. Lupul was in front of the net to backhand the rebound past Huet, ending the game and the series. The Flyers advance to face No. 1 seed Montreal in the second round.
The Caps had rebounded from a 3-1 series deficit with wins in Game 5 in Washington and Game 6 in Philadelphia on Monday. But three in a row was too much to ask from a team that had spent its entire season overcoming long odds — first to even reach the postseason and then to force a deciding game against the Flyers. Only 20 teams in NHL history have overcome a 3-1 deficit out of 223 series.
Caps rookie center Nicklas Backstrom opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 5:42 of the first period, his fourth of the series. But Philadelphia regained the lead on a goal by Scottie Upshall and a controversial second-period tally by Sami Kapanen. That one came after Patrick Thoresen knocked Caps defenseman Shaone Morrisonn into Huet, leaving Kapanen alone to deposit a shot into the open net.
Later in the period, Caps left wing Alex Ovechkin ripped a shot past Flyers goalie Martin Biron (39 saves) to tie the score at 2-2. Both teams had plenty of chances throughout the third period and early in overtime before Lupul finally converted. The Caps outshot the Flyers 41-34.
