The Sports Granola

A sense of doom that apparently is bred into so many of Philadelphia’s sports fans prevailed Monday night as the Flyers dejectedly skated off the ice and the Wachovia Center emptied as if it had just been condemned.

The Flyers had let a three-games-to-one lead in their first-round series against Washington evaporate and had to drag their weary and sore bodies back to the nation’s capital for a deciding Game 7 last night at the Verizon Center.

After the Game 6 loss, coach John Stevens said the Flyers would learn what they were made of, his blunt way of issuing a challenge to his players.

And in a game in which every inch of ice was contested, the Flyers met the challenge.

Joffrey Lupul, who missed an open net late in the first period, poked in a rebound on a power play early in overtime to give the Flyers a 3-2 win over the Caps to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2004.

“It bounced to the side of the net, and I did what I’m supposed to do and put it in the net,” said Lupul, who was without a goal in the series until he tucked in a rebound of Kimmo Timonen’s shot with nine seconds remaining on the power play. “It feels great. I’m still catching my breath right now, but I’m sure it’ll hit me in a few hours.”

The Flyers face a quick turnaround as they open the Eastern Conference semifinals tomorrow night against Montreal, the regular-season conference champion.

As soon as Lupul’s shot went in, 6 minutes, 6 seconds into overtime, a relieved Stevens engaged in a bear hug with his assistant coaches. Stevens has endured a season in which his team went long stretches without key players who were injured, but he has stayed on an even keel.

“I love to see this group have some success,” he said. “To see the excitement in the players and throughout the organization is great, especially after last season.”

The Flyers got an outstanding performance from goalie Marty Biron, who made 39 saves and kept his team alive during long stretches when the Caps had the puck. There were concerns about Biron going into the game because he was 0-5 on the second night of back-to-back games during the regular season.

“I guess he answered those questions about back-to-back,” Stevens said. “He was terrific. He had to be. That might be his best outing as a Flyer, and it was good timing for it.”

On a night when Stevens shortened his bench and occasionally mixed his lines, Scottie Upshall, who has been in and out of Stevens’ doghouse this season, may have been the Flyers’ most effective forward. Timonen, who spent the series dealing with Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin, and Braydon Coburn each logged more than 28 minutes of ice time.

“Kimmo was unbelievable,” Stevens said. “He looked like he could play all night out there.”

Upshall answered Nicklas Backstrom’s power-play goal with one of his own in the first period. The Flyers could have sagged after squandering a four-minute power play at the end of the first period that included 1:42 with a two-man advantage. That period ended with Lupul’s looking up in disbelief after missing an open net.

But the Flyers caught a break when Sami Kapanen shot into a wide-open net to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead midway through the second period. The net opened for Kapanen when Caps goalie Cristobal Huet was wiped out in a collision with teammate Shaone Morrisonn. The red-clad crowd screamed foul, believing that the Flyers’ Patrick Thoresen had driven Morrisonn into the goalie.

The fans’ mood changed when Ovechkin sent a wicked wrist shot from high in the face-off circle past Biron with 4:31 to go in the period, and the teams proceeded to play as if there were no tomorrow. Of course, there wasn’t for the loser.

Afterward, center Danny Briere talked about the Flyers’ resilience during a season that included a 10-game losing streak, the loss of their top forward, Simon Gagne, and a strong stretch drive to make the playoffs.

“It’s not just about tonight,” he said. “It’s about the 10-game losing streak earlier in the season. The way we finished against very good teams down the stretch. Losing the first game [of the Washington series] after leading by two goals and blowing that lead in the third period. And once again, losing the last two games when we could have clinched.

“There’s been times when this group had a chance to fold, to give up, basically, and we keep coming back up. The confidence keeps growing, and it’s a very positive thing.”

The Flyers had squandered three-games-to-one leads twice before - in 1988 against Washington in the first round on Dale Hunter’s overtime goal; and in 2000 against New Jersey in the Eastern Conference finals in a seventh game long remembered for Scott Stevens’ leaving Eric Lindros with a concussion from an open-ice hit.

The Capitals haven’t won a playoff series since 1998 and hadn’t been to the playoffs since 2003.

Since the NHL went to the best-of-seven format in 1939, the home team had won 77 of 121 for 64 percent.

Last night was only the eighth time in history that Games 6 and 7 were played on consecutive nights, and only the fourth time since 1950. The Flyers are 7-6 in seventh games.