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 Knuble poked in his second goal of the series 6:40 into the second OT to give Philadelphia a 4-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night and a 3-1 series lead.
Jeff Carter scored twice for the Flyers, who can finish off the Caps in Game 5 on Saturday in Washington.
The Caps have dropped three straight in the series and it could be the end for them if leading scorer Alex Ovechkin can't start finding the back of the net. Ovechkin, who scored 65 goals this season, had only one assist in Game 4.
Knuble ended it when he found the puck near the corner of the net and quickly poked it past Cristobal Huet. He was mobbed by his teammates while the standing, frantic fans howled in celebration.
Neither team showed signs of exhaustion in the first OT, with Huet and counterpart Martin Biron facing good, hard shots almost each time the puck was in the attack zone. Overtime was played at a frenetic pace and each team took 11 shots, almost all of them causing gasps from the crowd.
The Flyers had a power play late in regulation and attacked Huet for all 2 minutes, but came up empty. Huet, who was fantastic in Washington's stretch run just to make the playoffs, made a few spectacular saves that helped send the game into OT.
Huet, though, couldn't stop Briere earlier in the period.
The Flyers tied it at 3 midway through the third on their only power-play goal of regulation (1-for-7) when the Capitals were whistled for too many men on the ice.
Mike Richards had the puck in the far corner, skated out, saw Briere alone on the far side and made a perfect pass. Briere took the puck below the goal line, saw he had a moment to gather it and slammed in the tying goal.
Briere scored his 18th career playoff goal and perhaps the biggest of his five in this series.
Ovechkin, who had center Sergei Federov moved to his line, misfired on the open net only minutes earlier.
The Capitals first shot of the third, nearly 6 minutes in, made 3-2. The Flyers could not clear the puck out of the zone, and Steve Eminger made them pay when he flipped the puck past Biron.
The rowdy Philly crowd picked up where they left off after Game 3 when they banged inflatable sticks and chanted a one-syllable expletive before "Ovechkin" on a celebratory postgame escalator ride.
Some made signs that poked fun at Ovechkin, including ones that read "Have You Seen Me?" above his name and No. 8 and "Ovechkin is Over8ed."
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When Carter scored his first goal only 42 seconds into the game, the diehards erupted in jubilation and it seemed like the Flyers would be able to ride that emotional boost for at least the rest of the period.
Instead, Washington came out swinging.
The Caps were hardly rattled by the early goal and they initiated some physical play early. Tempers quickly flared, with pushing, shoving and punching in the corners, and Briere and Alexander Semin each sent to the penalty box.
Briere was whistled for holding and roughing, and the double-minor cost the Flyers when Ovechkin centered Nicklas Backstrom for the power-play goal that tied the score at 1.
Coach Bruce Boudreau tinkered with his line combinations the last two days, both at even strength and on the power play, hoping to find the right on that would finally generate some early offense.
The Capitals were 2-for-16 on the power play the first three games, but made it 2-for-2 in the first period to go ahead 2-1.
Briere (slashing) and Derian Hatcher (slashing) were in the box and Washington had 13 seconds of a two-man advantage, all the time that was needed for Semin to beat Biron upstairs from the far circle with 7:01 left.
Carter tied it at 2 with 1:27 left on his third goal of the playoffs.
Now the series moves back to Washington, where the two games were split.
Notes: Former Philadelphia Eagle Vince Papale was at the game. ... Capitals D Jeff Schultz, who was hurt in Game 3, was scratched. ... The Flyers played their first overtime home playoff game since May 20, 2004 against Tampa Bay.
[Associated Press; By DAN GELSTON]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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