A gorgeous spring evening in South Philly. A raucous sellout crowd, decked out in Flyers orange. And two teams, each determined to get the upper hand in this nasty playoff series.

Powered by two goals from center Danny Briere, the Flyers defeated the Washington Capitals, 6-3, last night in Game 3 at the Wachovia Center. They lead the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, two games to one.

"I loved the effort by our team," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "We were running in waves, one line picking up after the other. We had short shifts. Great tempo. The crowd was unbelievable . . . You looked down the bench and the guys were jacked from it."

The only thing that prevented a perfect ending was the news that the Flyers' top defenseman, Kimmo Timonen, the man responsible for shutting down the Caps' Alexander Ovechkin, was injured. Timonen appeared to suffer a right arm or shoulder injury in the second period when pushed into the back of the goal by Brooks Laich. Timonen struck the video-replay camera inside the net.

"He'll be reevaluated tomorrow," general manager Paul Holmgren said. Stevens said that he did not think the injury was serious and that Timonen was "hopeful" for tomorrow's Game 4.

Despite Timonen's absence, the Flyers' defense was terrific, bolstered by the return of Derian Hatcher. Captain Jason Smith logged 25 shifts with different partners.

Offensively, the chemistry between Briere and Vinny Prospal has been every bit as good in this series as it was during the final five weeks of the season after Prospal arrived from Tampa Bay.

They had six points in this game. For the series, they have combined for 11 points (six goals, five assists) when paired together.

"Danny had a twinkle in his eye," Stevens said. "He was a confident guy, and he's played well through these playoffs. That line really got us going early."

Briere might not have earned his $6.5 million against the salary cap during the regular season, but he's certainly trying to make amends now.

"After that 10-game losing streak, it was playoff mode for us," Briere said. "We had dropped in the standings, and the playoffs started for us, in a sense, back then. When things started clicking for my line, down the stretch we did a good job. And it's going now in the playoffs. It's been a lot of fun."

The Flyers led by 4-2 going into the final period before the Caps got a high-stick-deflected goal from Laich off an assist from Mike Green, who has four points in the series. The goal stood after a video review. Green later hauled down Mike Richards, who drew a penalty shot and converted.

It was Richards' first playoff goal. The only other Flyer to score on a playoff penalty shot was Eric Lindros on May 11, 1997, against Buffalo.

Talk about electric atmosphere. It had been nearly two full years since the Flyers played a home playoff game, and the arena was rocking.

"I didn't know what we were singing [before the game] but I was hoping it was 'God Bless America,' " Stevens said. It was.

It was a terrific first period of give-and-take, with Marty Biron taking a hard shot off the right cheek from Alexander Semin 12 minutes into the period but staying in the game.

The final four minutes saw four goals, with the Flyers scoring twice in 17 seconds to take a 3-1 lead.

"We came with a great start, carried the play," Mike Knuble said. "They popped one in, but we got two quick ones, and it hurts the other team's morale, especially on the road."

The Flyers' surge began off a lucky break when Viktor Kozlov nailed a shot off the post. On the line change going the other way, Briere caught a diagonal pass from Prospal and beat Cristobal Huet with a wrist shot from the right circle for a 1-0 lead at 16 minutes, 10 seconds.

Eric Fehr tied it, sneaking into the slot after a puck battle behind the net to steal some of the momentum back at 17:21.

View a photo gallery from last night's game at http://go.philly.com/photos.

See video highlights on CineSport at http://go.philly.com/sports.