Flyers eliminate Capitals in OT

Joffrey Lupul gets the party started after scoring the winning goal in overtime of the Flyers' Game 7 win over the Capitals. (NICK WASS/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The Philadelphia Flyers finally figured out how to put away the Washington Capitals.

Joffrey Lupul netted a rebound during a power play 6:06 into overtime in Game 7 to lift Philadelphia past Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals, 3-2, last night in their Eastern Conference first-round series.

The Flyers led the best-of-seven series, 3-1, before allowing the Capitals to pull even.

"For some reason, we don't like to do it the easy way," Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn said. "We like to grind it out and do it the hard way. But it's a great feeling to get this series won."

Lupul found space in front of the net to get a backhander past Cristobal Huet after Washington's goalie had deflected Kimmo Timonen's shot.

"You're on a power play, the puck goes to the net, you end up banging it in, and 20 guys are ramming you into the boards," Lupul said about the celebration after his first playoff goal. "I'm still catching my breath right now. I'm sure it'll sink in here in the next couple of hours."

There were nine seconds left in the Flyers' man advantage after defenseman Tom Poti was sent off for tripping - the first penalty since the second period in a rough-and-tumble game that suited Philadelphia's style.

"To have the referee decide the series like that, with two teams battling like that, is tough to swallow. I definitely didn't think it was a penalty," Poti said.

He then made reference to Philadelphia's second goal, when a Capitals defenseman was knocked into Huet by an opponent, and said: "It's tough to beat the officials as well as the Flyers."

Ovechkin, who scored 65 goals in ther regular season, had a hand in both of Washington's goals last night, assisting on Nicklas Backstrom's opener 5:42 into the game, then scoring to make it 2-2 about 15 1/2 minutes into the second period.

Otherwise, Flyers goalie Martin Biron was brilliant, turning aside 39 shots.

Sharks 5, Flames 3 - Jeremy Roenick didn't come out of semi-retirement for just one playoff round.

The veteran San Jose center is only interested in a long run at the Stanley Cup, and he carried the Sharks one step closer.

Roenick had two goals and two assists, including the tying and go-ahead scores midway through the Sharks' four-goal second period in a Game 7 victory over visiting Calgary.

Evgeni Nabokov made 19 saves for second-seeded San Jose in front of a deafening crowd at the first Game 7 in Shark Tank history. After the Sharks fell behind, 2-1, early in the second period, San Jose's formidable talent finally overwhelmed the Flames with four goals in less than nine minutes, chasing goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.

The Sharks earned their fourth straight trip to the second round, where they'll face the Pacific Division-rival Dallas Stars.

Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, and rookie Devin Setoguchi also scored for the Sharks, who took 41 shots while thoroughly controlling most of the final two periods. Owen Nolan, captain Jarome Iginla and Wayne Primeau scored for the seventh-seeded Flames.

The impressive win capped an exhausting two weeks for the Sharks, who fell behind, 2-1, in the series before rallying for two improbable late goals in their Game 4 victory. San Jose then gave its worst effort of the series in Game 6, leaving many wondering if the Sharks had the grit necessary to survive a physical opponent.