Getting Even

The nearly impossible dream is now very possible.

The Flyers, counted out when they lost the first three games of the series, evened the Eastern Conference semifinals with a tense 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins Wednesday night at the rollicking Wachovia Center.

Michael Leighton, looking razor sharp in his first start in nearly two months, made 30 saves as the Flyers earned their third straight win and tied the series at three games apiece.

The series winner will be decided Friday in a Game 7 in Boston, where the Flyers will try to become the third team in NHL history to win a playoff round after starting with three straight defeats. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and 1975 New York Islanders are the only teams to accomplish the feat.

"We can't be satisfied. I don't want to be satisfied with coming back in the series," said Danny Briere, who scored the decisive goal. "I want to get the last one."

Getting goals from Mike Richards and Briere (power play), the Flyers became just the sixth team in NHL history - out of 162 - to reach a Game 7 after starting a series with three consecutive defeats.

The Flyers have a 7-6 record in Game 7s in their history.

Ville Leino was stopped on a penalty shot with 7 minutes, 21 seconds left - Boston goalie Tuukka Rask, who lives in the same Finland town as Leino, robbed the winger with a glove save.

Boston got to within 2-1 as it pulled Rask, and Milan Lucic scored on a rebound with a minute left. The Flyers had not allowed a goal since Mark Recchi scored in Game 4, a span of 134:12

"Our confidence has grown as [we] rack up the wins," said Briere, who has five goals in the series. "You feel better and better about your game."

Briere said the Flyers would need to play better in Game 7.

"I don't think we played our best game of the series tonight. We're going to need more than that to win in Boston," he said. "The thing I liked, even though they cycled the puck hard on us in the second, I think we kept them to the outside for the most part. We didn't give them too many point-blank shots, and when we did a few times in the third, Michael was there to make the big stops."

As for the Bruins, Briere said, "I'm sure there's lots of pressure on them."

The Flyers dominated the first 10 minutes. Relentless work by Simon Gagne, Kimmo Timonen, Dan Carcillo, and Richards kept the puck in the zone and produced the game's first goal after 6:58.

Timonen, near the left goal line, made a nice backhand pass in front that caused a brief offensive flurry. Carcillo poked at the puck during a scramble and it bounced to Richards, who scored from the slot, igniting the crowd into a roar that was even louder than when a second-period score was posted on the scoreboard: Montreal 4, Pittsburgh 0. (Eighth-seeded Montreal won, 5-2.)

"We came out physical," Richards said. "We didn't want to put ourselves in a vulnerable position. I thought we played well in the first period."

For someone who was making his first start in nearly two months, Leighton continued to look surprisingly sharp as he made 12 second-period saves.

"Better Leight Than Never," read one sign at the arena.

Leighton was playing because Brian Boucher suffered knee injuries in the previous game and is expected to miss the rest of the season. In the second period, a live shot of Boucher was shown on the scoreboard as he watched the game. As the fans stood and applauded, Boucher, teary-eyed, blew a kiss to the crowd.

The Bruins controlled play for a three-minute stretch in the middle of the second period, but the Flyers seemed to get reenergized after they killed a Braydon Coburn hooking penalty.

With 3:40 left in the second period, Briere scored while the Flyers were on a four-on-three power play, firing a right-circle shot over the left shoulder of Rask to make it 2-0. Richards and Claude Giroux recorded assists on Briere's 29th playoff goal of his career.

"Now that we've climbed all the way back in the series, we want it, too," Briere said. "We have to realize the last game will be the toughest. . . . With all we've been through, it's pretty amazing the no-quit attitude we have in this room, but at the same time, there's still lots of work to be done."

Blair Betts, the Flyers' penalty-killing standout, appeared to reinjure his right shoulder with two minutes remaining in the period and he headed to the locker room for treatment. Betts missed a total of 19 regular-season games as he dislocated his right shoulder twice.

General manager Paul Holmgren said Betts was expected to play Friday.

Here are the pro sports teams that have come back from a deficit of three games to none to win a best-of-seven playoff series:

The 2004 Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.

The 1975 New York Islanders defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup quarterfinals.

The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals.

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