The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA - This Ottawa Senators' playoff comeback was unlike any they ever had.

Wade Redden's goal 6:43 into overtime lifted the Senators to a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night. Ottawa leads the Eastern Conference semifinal series 2-1. Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday night in Philadelphia.

The Senators, who had an NHL-best 113 points in the regular season, trailed 2-1 entering the third. They had been 0-22 in playoff games when trailing after 40 minutes.

Philadelphia was 35-0-3 when leading after two periods this season, including 5-0 in the playoffs.

"We can't afford to come back more against this team because they don't give you too many opportunities," said Marian Hossa, who tied the game on a power-play goal early in the third period.

Daniel Alfredsson also had a power-power goal for Ottawa.

John LeClair and Sami Kapanen scored for the Flyers.

"The difference was when it was 2-1, we just weren't able to extend the lead," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We had lots of possession time, but we weren't able to generate any second opportunities."

Redden won it with a slap shot from near the left circle that slipped between goaltender Roman Cechmanek's stick and the near post.

Cechmanek, coming off a brilliant 33-save performance in a 2-0 road victory Sunday night, stopped 24 shots. He stoned Hossa on a breakaway early in overtime. Minutes later, he made another outstanding save on a shot by Karel Rachunek.

"It's not always a pretty play that does it," Redden said. "In overtime, you want to put everything at the net. He made some great saves."

Tony Amonte had a breakaway on Patrick Lalime shortly after Cechmanek stopped Rachunek, but he lost control of the puck going for a backhander.

Lalime had 20 saves.

"I'm kicking myself right now," said Amonte, who has just one goal in the playoffs. "I wish I would've just shot it. He's a big goalie, so you think you can get around him, but a shot on net is better than a puck in the corner."

Canucks 3, Wild 2

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The referees kept a tighter lid on the boiling rivalry between Vancouver and Minnesota, and the Canucks took full advantage.

Vancouver scored three power-play goals, and Dan Cloutier made 16 saves with a little help from the posts as the Canucks beat the Wild 3-2 on Tuesday night to take a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference playoff series.

Game 4 is Friday in St. Paul.

It took only seven seconds for the bad blood from Game 2's postgame scuffle to surface when Brad May and Matt Johnson dropped their gloves.

"The fight really got the guys going," Canucks forward Brendan Morrison said.

The Canucks got goals from Morrison, Ed Jovanovski and Daniel Sedin as the Wild allowed three power-play goals for only the second time this season. The Canucks, whose power play was ranked third in the NHL this year, went 3-for-6 with the man advantage in a game that saw 40 penalty minutes assessed.

"That's how the game was called and as a penalty-killing unit, we should have been a lot more solid," Wild defenseman Willie Mitchell said.

"That's probably the tightest game we've seen called in the postseason."

After combining for 16 penalty minutes in Game 1, the teams earned 74 in Game 2, the majority coming after the game when five misconducts were issued.

The NHL fined the Wild $25,000 on Tuesday for their part in the brawl.

The Wild had power-play goals by Filip Kuba and Marian Gaborik, but fell behind on Sedin's second-period score.

Sedin took a pass from twin brother Henrik and tipped the puck from the slot past Dwayne Roloson's glove side to make it 3-2.

The Wild tried to rally in the final minutes, but bogged down in the face of Vancouver's bigger, stronger defenders. Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said his players might have exerted too much energy early and wore down late.

"It's disappointing," Lemaire said. "We felt we played very well. We felt we could've won."

NHL at a glance

CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

(Best-of-7 series)

Monday's games

Tampa Bay 4, New Jersey 3; Devils lead series 2-1

Dallas 2, Anaheim 1;Mighty Ducks lead series 2-1

Tuesday's games

Ottawa 3, Philadelphia 2 (OT); Senators lead series 2-1

Vancouver 3, Minnesota 2;Canucks lead series 2-1

Today's games

New Jersey at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m.

Dallas at Anaheim, 10 p.m.

Thursday, May 1

Ottawa at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.

Friday, May 2

Tampa Bay at New Jersey, 7 p.m.

Vancouver at Minnesota, 9 p.m.