Flyers beat Bruins again, force Game 7

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 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 and notched a shutout until Milan Lucic scored in the closing minute.

It was the third straight win for the Flyers, tying the series at three games each.

The winner will be decided in Game 7 on Friday 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.

Getting goals from Mike Richards and Danny Briere (power play), the Flyers became just the sixth team in NHL history to reach a Game 7 after starting a series with three consecutive defeats. There have been 162 teams that have taken a 3-0 series lead.

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.

But it didn't matter.

Just like the previous game, the Flyers dominated the first 10 minutes and took a 1-0 lead.

Relentless work by Simon Gagne, Kimmo Timonen, Dan Carcillo, and Richards kept the puck in the zone and produced the 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: 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."

The Flyers got the only power play in the opening period, and it almost led to a goal - by Boston.

Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger tried to poke the puck and keep it in the offensive zone at the blue line, but it was intercepted, and Trent Whitfield was sent in on a shorthanded breakaway. Leighton made a chest save to keep the Flyers ahead, 1-0.

Whitfield, a 32-year-old journeyman who spent most of the season with AHL Providence, was added to the lineup after an injury to David Krejci.

Boston dominated the latter stages of the opening period, but couldn't score the equalizer. The Bruins outshot the Flyers, 6-1, in the last half of 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 fifth goal in this series and 29th playoff goal of his career.

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 19 regular-season games as he dislocated his right shoulder twice.

Leighton made two brilliant saves early in the third period. First, he got his glove on Mark Stuart's drive from in close, and then he robbed Miroslav Satan on the rebound with 16:35 left in regulation.

The Miracle March was gaining momentum.