The 22-year-old Russian is the real deal, and he's going to be a star in the NHL for a long time. But he does not breathe fire, summon jungle animals to his aid with a yell, or walk on water.

Well, unless it's frozen, of course. Then he just glides along the surface.

The Flyers are running into more than a hockey team in Washington tonight. They are faced with the combination of a budding superstar making his playoff debut and a league trying very hard to create a buzz after slipping into Nielsen-ratings oblivion. The NHL and its broadcast partners desperately need Ovechkin and Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to be what Larry Bird and Magic Johnson once were for the NBA - young stars capable of saving their sport from the scrap heap.

And you know what? The three players might just have the goods. This really is a generational windfall of talent. Whether such salvation is still possible in 2008 - Magic and Bird weren't competing with the Internet, a thousand cable channels, On Demand movies, and Wii - is another matter.

There are no Flyers on that list of league rescuers, and that's just fine. John Stevens' best players aren't being hyped beyond reason, which gives them a low-pressure opportunity to steal a little of Ovechkin's thunder.

These playoffs will give the likes of Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Braydon Coburn and Scottie Upshall a chance to establish themselves as big-time players. And they will give Danny Briere the chance to reclaim his reputation as one of the NHL's more exciting offensive players.

"Ovechkin can score six goals [in Game 1 tonight] if he wants to," Briere said. "As long as we win 7-6 or 8-6, I'll be fine with it. . . . It's about the Flyers. It's about winning and moving on."

Under normal circumstances, Philadelphia division, Briere would be under a huge amount of pressure in this postseason. His first season with the Flyers after signing a big free-agent contract did not quite live up to the excitement and expectations of last summer. There were reasons for that. Briere lost his best linemate, Simon Gagne, to a concussion early on. He was forced to adapt as Stevens tried a variety of line combinations, looking for a spark while coping with other injuries.

Briere played his best hockey toward the end of the season, as the Flyers surged toward a playoff berth. That went a long way toward keeping Briere on the fans' good side. A strong postseason would go much further.

That won't be easy. Briere will be wearing a "lower body injury" (OK, knee) brace because of a sprained ligament sustained last week. For a player who relies so much on quickness, that could be an issue. But this is not a Flyers team with the burden of Stanley-Cup-or-bust expectations weighing it down. This is a team with a chance to establish itself as well as its stars.

"That's the goal for everyone, the Stanley Cup," Briere said. "I wanted to be with a team that gave us that chance - and not just for this year."

Briere came from Buffalo. For the last few years, his teams had legitimate chances to win the Cup. They didn't. He followed the money to Philadelphia, to be sure, but he also came here because he believed the Flyers were committed to building a contender.

"You only get so many chances," Briere said. "When I was in Phoenix and we made the playoffs right away, I thought I'd get that chance every year. That's not the case. You only get so many chances."

Briere is not as big a star as Ovechkin - in the most literal sense: The Capitals winger is 6-foot-2. Briere doesn't crack 6 feet with his skates on. But Briere is a star, the most proven of the Flyers as they begin this uncertain playoff trek. He will go a long way toward determining whether the Flyers are finished a week from today or still playing six weeks from now.

"We have a lot of guys we brought in who are veteran players," Stevens said. "[Someone] brought up the point that the guys coming in had never won [a Cup]. To me, that was a real positive. There's still some unfinished business with these guys."

Briere fits that profile.

"I'm going to do everything in my power to help our team move on," Briere said. "I'm not going to worry about the perception. It's not about me. It's about the Flyers moving on. It's a chance to prove yourself."

Exactly.

for columnist Phil Sheridan

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