PHILADELPHIA – Danny Briere saved the game for the Flyers in regulation and Mike Knuble got them a win away from the second round in a thrilling double-overtime finish.

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.

Stars 3, Ducks 1

DALLAS – Stu Barnes and Steve Ott scored third-period goals and Marty Turco came within 7.6 seconds of a shutout, sending the Dallas Stars past the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 Thursday night and putting the reigning Stanley Cup champions on the brink of elimination.

Dallas leads the first-round series 3-1 going into Game 5 in Anaheim on Friday night.

Turco and the Stars are seeking their first postseason series win since a first-rounder in 2003, having dropped four straight. Anaheim, meanwhile, is a loss away from continuing a dismal streak for defending champs – none has reached the second round since Colorado in 2002.

A big reason Dallas hasn’t gotten out of the first round lately is an inability to win at home in the playoffs. This was only the second time the Stars have done so in their last nine tries. It also marked the first time this series the home team has won.

The last time Dallas won a home playoff game, Turco had a shutout. He appeared headed to another until Mathieu Schneider beat him in the waning moments. It was Anaheim’s first third-period goal this series.

Avalanche 3, Wild 2

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Jose Theodore and the Colorado Avalanche just sat back and waited. Then Wojtek Wolski and Paul Stastny pushed the Minnesota Wild to the edge of elimination.

Wojtek and Stastny scored 79 seconds apart early in the third period to give Theodore and the patient Avs a 3-2 victory on Thursday and a 3-2 series lead, after weathering a relentless effort by the Wild.

Minnesota outshot Colorado 32-14 over the first two periods. But following an interference penalty by Sean Hill, with 5 seconds left on the power play, Wolski sent the puck through goalie Niklas Backstrom’s pads for a 2-1 lead with 14:54 remaining.

Then came the knockout blow by Stastny, the regular-season goals leader for the Avalanche who was searching for his first score of this series.

He took a smooth pass by Milan Hejduk and made a nifty pivot to lift a back-hander over Backstrom.

Game 6 is in Denver on Saturday night. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, more than 80 percent (158 of 196) of the Game 5 winners of previously tied playoff series have advanced to the next round in NHL history.

Theodore made 38 saves. He gave up a too-late slap shot goal by Brian Rolston with 2.5 seconds left and a first-period power-play goal by Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

Andrew Brunette also scored for Colorado.

AP-ES-04-17-08 2335EDT