By CHUCK GORMLEY
(Cherry Hill, N.J.) Courier-Post

TAMPA, Fla. - Control of Game 5 and the Eastern Conference finals was within the Philadelphia Flyers' reach. They could smell it. They could taste it. But Nikolai Khabibulin wouldn't allow it.

Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin makes a save on a shot by Philadelphia's Simon Gagne during the third period of Game 5. (AP photo)

The Flyers clawed their way out of an early three-goal deficit and had several opportunities to tie the game on the tips of their sticks in the third period, but the Bulin Wall would not budge and the Tampa Bay Lightning are now one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in their 12-year history.

Khabibulin made 30 saves, 15 in the final period, to help the Lightning gain a thrilling 4-2 victory Tuesday night in front of a raucous crowd at the St. Pete Times Forum.

The Flyers now trail the best-of-seven series three games to two and need a win Thursday night at the Wachovia Center (7:30, ESPN2) to keep their season alive.

If Tuesday night's third period was any indication, the Flyers' aren't dead yet.

After second-period goals by Michal Handzus and Patrick Sharp revived the Flyers, a final period flurry fell just short.

Khabibulin, who entered the game with a league-best 1.44 goals-against average, was otherworldly in the third.

Early on, he stopped a Mark Recchi redirection on a feed from Alexei Zhamnov. He followed with a left blocker save on Jeremy Roenick with 11:00 left; a pad save on a Keith Primeau rush with 9:30 left; a glove save on Tony Amonte off a feed from Recchi with 8:05 remaining. Then there the pad save on a Dennis Seidenberg screen shot with 5:20 left; another on Simon Gagne with 3:00 to play; a glove save on John LeClair with 1:58 left; and another glove save on Zhamnov with 27.3 seconds remaining.

The Flyers were left holding nothing but sawdust and when Tim Taylor completed a 2-on-1 with Martin St. Louis by firing the puck into an empty net with 14.3 seconds left, the Flyers' margin for error in this series had been reduced to one.

If the Flyers hope to force a Game 7 here on Saturday night, they'll need to come out a little sharper than they did in Game 5.

After watching Primeau impose his will on them in Game 4, it was clear from the drop of the puck the Lightning would play with an edge that had been missing in the first four games.

Before they hit the ice, the Lightning players walked past a message painted on their dressing room wall that reads: Safe Is Death.

Line after line swarmed the Flyers with a daringly ferocious forecheck, finishing the first period with a club-playoff record 18 shots to the Flyers' 8. If not for a half dozen spectacular saves by Robert Esche, the Flyers would been in a three-goal hole after 20 minutes instead of trailing, 1-0.

The Lightning's offensive push eventually forced Flyers defenseman Mattias Timander to hook St. Louis 9:14 into the period, which was followed by Ruslan Fedotenko's power play goal at 10:30. Traded to the Lightning for the right to draft Joni Pitkanen, Fedotenko darted to the net, deflected a shot by Dan Boyle, then snapped in his own rebound for his fifth goal of the playoffs.

Two more penalties - a Primeau cross-check on Fredrik Modin late in the first period and a Handzus hold on Modin early in the second, led to a pair of power-play goals by Brad Richards and the Lightning had a 3-0 lead.

Richards went top shelf glove side on his first goal just 24 ticks into the second period and went low stick side on his second goal at the 7:12 mark. Esche could not be faulted on either, both rockets. At the time, the Bolts were outshooting the Flyers 21-10, the crowd was pounding the air out of their Thunderstix and it looked like it was lights out for Philadelphia.

When Khabibulin flashed his left pad to stop Branko Radivojevic on a partial breakaway, the fans erupted into chants of "Habby! ... Habby!" Unfettered, the Flyers kept coming. Handzus, centering a new line with Tony Amonte on his right and LeClair on his left, fired a pass from Amonte between Khabibulin's legs 8:56 into the second period.

One shot later it was 3-2 on a goal from, of all people, Sharp. In 10 previous playoff games, the 22-year-old rookie from the University of Vermont had nine shots and was averaging just under 7 minutes a game.

Sharp found himself playing with Primeau, who was double-shifted again because right wing Radovan Somik left early in the first period with an apparent hand injury. Primeau held the puck at the side of the Tampa net just long enough for Sharp to get into shooting position and the center from Thunder Bay, Ont. ripped a shot through Khabibulin to cut the deficit to 3-2 with more than a half a game to play.

The Lightning didn't waste a lot of time licking their wounds. St. Louis drew a cross-checking penalty on Simon Gagne at the 12:28 mark and Esche followed with the save of the series when he darted from his right post to his left to deny Richards a hat trick on a cross-ice feed from Vinny Lecavalier.

The Flyers had an opportunity to tie when Dave Andreychuk twice was called for tripping Primeau, but the Flyers' power play failed to click and the Lightning entered the third period with a 3-2 lead.

Thanks to Khabibulin, it was all the Bolts needed.

Philadelphia	0	2	0-2
Tampa Bay	1	2	1-4

First Period-1, Tampa Bay, Fedotenko 6 (Boyle, Sydor), 10:30 (pp). Penalties-Brashear, Phi (roughing), 3:54; Roy, TB (roughing), 3:54; Sydor, TB (ob.-hooking), 4:14; Timander, Phi (hooking), 9:14; Recchi, Phi (roughing), 18:53; St. Louis, TB (roughing), 18:53; Primeau, Phi (cross-checking), 19:49; Malakhov, Phi (roughing), 19:49; Boyle TB (roughing), 19:49.

Second Period-2, Tampa Bay, Richards 7 (Andreychuk, Kubina), :24 (pp). 3, Tampa Bay, Richards 8 (Stillman, Lecavalier), 7:12 (pp). 4, Philadelphia, Handzus 5 (Amonte, LeClair), 8:56. 5, Philadelphia, Sharp 1 (Primeau, Brashear), 9:34. Penalties-Handzus, Phi (holding), 7:09; Johnsson, Phi (cross-checking), 12:28; Andreychuk, TB (tripping), 13:04; Andreychuk, TB (tripping), 18:56; LeClair, Phi (roughing), 20:00; Pratt, TB (roughing), 20:00.

Third Period-6, Tampa Bay, Taylor 2 (St. Louis, Andreychuk), 19:45 (en). Penalties-None.

Shots on goal-Phi. 8-7-15-30. TB 18-7-6-31. Power plays -Philadelphia 0 of 3; TB 3 of 4. Goalies-Phi, Esche 10-6 (30 shots-27 saves). TB, Khabibulin 11-3 (30-28). A-21,517.

Stanley Cup playoffs

CONFERENCE FINALS

(Best-of-7 series)

Saturday

Philadelphia 3, Tampa Bay 2,

Sunday

San Jose 4, Calgary 2

Monday

Calgary 3, San Jose 0;

Calgary leads series 3-2

Tuesday

Tampa Bay 4, Philadelphia 2;

Tampa Bay leads series 3-2

Today

San Jose at Calgary, 9 p.m.

Thursday

Tampa Bay at Philadelphia,

7:30 p.m.