Two years ago, he was with Anaheim. Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals against Colorado. Lupul tallied four goals, including the game-winner.

But last night was better - a childhood dream came true.

"This one's different, because it's Game 7 in overtime," Lupul explained. "When you are a kid, playing in the back yard or the outdoor rink, that's always what it is: Game 7 of overtime."

Lupul's power-play goal 6 minutes, 6 seconds into overtime gave the Flyers a dramatic series-clinching win over the gritty Washington Capitals.

Lupul tipped a shot by Kimmo Timonen that was stopped by Caps goalie Cristobal Huet, but not controlled. Lupul pursued the loose puck and slid it past Huet for a historic goal in Flyers lore.

"It just came to me and I banged it in," Lupul said. "If I had to think about it a little more, it might not have been so easy."

It's been a roller-coaster season for Lupul, who was having an excellent season until he was caught up in a hit by teammate Derian Hatcher that caused him to miss 14 games from Jan. 8 to Feb. 6. Then, in only his fifth game back, he suffered a high-ankle sprain that cost him another 12 games.

Lupul slumped toward the end of the season and was held without a goal in the series until scoring the one that counted most.

Coach John Stevens stuck with the 24-year-old sniper. Stevens continued to play Lupul in all situations and finally pulled him aside a few days ago for a pep talk.

"It was more just a vote of confidence, to be honest with you," Stevens said. "I told him to get back to doing the little things he does well - he gets more involved physically, shoots the puck and uses his speed. It was just more a vote of confidence. There's a kid that really cares. I just tried to get him focused on his game and what makes him a good player. I think you're only going to see him get better and better as he goes through this."

Lupul's opportunity was set up when Tom Poti tripped R.J. Umberger. The Poti infraction followed a similar play 2 minutes earlier in which Sami Kapanen had his skates taken out by John Erskine. No call was made on that play, and it seemed as if the refs wouldn't call anything that didn't border on outright assault. Not so.

"A lot of times, if they let one call go, they'll call an identical play, whether it's overtime or not," said Kapanen, a veteran of 77 playoff games. "It's not an easy call for the referee. But fortunately for us, they called the second one, and it ended up being a game-winner."

Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau had no problem with the call.

"I don't think the refs wanted to call the penalty at all," he said. "I think John Erskine might have gotten away with one earlier . . . so they said they have to make a standard. I thought it was a penalty. He tripped him. What are you going to do? Sometimes you say, 'It's overtime or the third period, Game 7, you let it go.' But you can't deny that he did trip him."

The Flyers are now 7-6 in Game 7s, and Lupul became the first to net the winner in an overtime. "To score a goal like that, it's crazy," he said. "You can never prepare for that. It hasn't even sunk in yet. I'm sure I'll have a lot of people call me. It's a great feeling." *