There are some losses just too brutal to overcome.
Up a goal with barely 10 minutes to go, the Capitals had matched Philadelphia beat for beat. They were physical. They were opportunistic. They received spectacular goaltending.
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But in the end, despite finding those things so often missing in this Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, it wasn’t enough to avoid a crushing double-overtime loss.
Philadelphia center Daniel Briere continued his dominant play with the game-tying goal at 10:01 of the third period. In the second overtime, right wing Mike Knuble banged home his own rebound on a scramble in front to send the sellout crowd at Wachovia Center into a frenzy and lift the Flyers to a 4-3 victory.
The win gave Philadelphia a commanding 3-1 series lead. In their history, the Caps have only overcome that deficit in the playoffs one time in six attempts. Briere’s third-period goal was his fifth of the series and tied the contest at 3-3.
Washington could not have started off the game worse. Philadelphia center Jeff Carter opened the scoring 42 seconds in. But the Caps proved resilient. Rookie center Nicklas Backstrom, dropped from the top line with left wing Alex Ovechkin down to the second line for the first time in four months, responded with a goal to tie it and then assisted on left wing Alexander Semin’s power-play goal.
Those tallies put the Caps up 2-1. But they again allowed a late goal when Carter scored with just 87 seconds left in the first period. An unlikely goal from defenseman Steve Eminger — his first of the season — from a bad-angle on the right wing put the Caps back in front at 5:56 of the second. That lead held up until Briere struck again.
