PITTSBURGH - The spotlights in the Consol Energy Center were impossibly bright and blinding, flashing just enough in the pregame to reveal the packed Penguins crowd in all white T-shirts.
Just a few feet from Ilya Bryzgalov's crease, two mocking Penguins fans were dressed in bear costumes - Bryzgalov said this week he does not fear Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, only bears in the forest.
For the Flyers, Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals started - mentally and physically - in just about the most hostile way possible. It was loud. It was intense. It was filled with Sidney Crosby magic, even in the first 4 minutes.
None of it mattered.
It didn't matter, for the Flyers, that the Penguins scored three times in the first 20 minutes. Or that the Penguins had won 28 of their last 29 playoff games when leading after two periods. Or that the Flyers had allowed a two-goal deficit to the opposition for the eighth time in their last 13 games.
The Flyers proved their resilience again on Wednesday night, magically erasing a three-goal deficit thanks to clutch tallies from Danny Briere and Brayden Schenn that pushed the Flyers to a 4-3 overtime win over the Penguins in Game 1.
Jake Voracek netted the overtime winner just 2:23 into overtime.
Improbably, the underdog Flyers - picked to knock off the Stanley Cup favorite Penguins by just eight of 45 national hockey "experts" - lead the best-of-seven series, 1-0, and now hold home-ice advantage over Pittsburgh.
It was just the Flyers' second win in their last seven playoff games in Pittsburgh, including games across the street at Mellon Arena, dating back to the 2008 Eastern Conference finals.
Historically, the Flyers are 22-8 in playoff series when taking Game 1. They have followed that up with an 18-12 record in Game 2, which is Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Consol Energy Center. However, the winner of Game 1 in the last four playoff series the Penguins have played has gone on to lose the series.
Predictably, Briere - the Flyers' top playoff performer from 2010 who now has 98 points in 98 career postseason games - carried the team on his back and nearly singlehandedly got them back in the game. Briere, who missed the final week of the season with back-related issues, got the Flyers on the board 6:22 into the second period, but it took more than a full period to get on the scoresheet again.
Up until Briere netted his second goal, Claude Giroux had posted just one shot on Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The Flyers' shots well into the third period were still numbered in the teens. And they had just one power play compared to Pittsburgh's three.
Without a consistent forecheck or pressure, the Flyers offered little threat of even mounting a complete comeback. That was, until Brooks Orpik caught Briere with a late hit with under 10 minutes to play, giving the Flyers their first man advantage.
After miraculous, diving attempts to keep the puck alive in the Penguins' defensive zone, Schenn finally one-timed a slap-pass from Scott Hartnell with 7:37 remaining, making it even and sending the game into overtime. The Flyers outshot the shellshocked Penguins, 11-5, over the last 20 minutes of regulation.
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