For the Philadelphia Flyers, nothing could have been worse than Dale Hunter's overtime goal Saturday night at Capital Centre. It was a terrible end to an unpredictable season. It was a crushing blow to slumping goaltender Ron Hextall. And it was all the more disheartening because it caused them to lose a series they certainly could have won.

"I feel empty right now," Flyers forward Rick Tocchet said after the 5-4 loss. "But it will really hit me in three days when, wherever I am, I'm watching ESPN and see other teams playing."

After losing a three-games-to-one lead in the series, the Flyers lost a 3-0 lead they built early in the second period, then tied the game at 4-4 to go into overtime. They seemed to be playing better as the game wore on, until Hunter's goal.

"Nothing matters now," Hextall said. His eyes were red, his voice a whisper. Moments earlier, he had been slumped over, holding a blue towel to his eyes as teammates came by to console him.

"All that matters is they got the last goal," he said. "Unfortunately. We battled for seven games and I wanted to beat them in overtime. I wanted to stop every shot. I'm disappointed. I didn't play well and that's probably the biggest reason we lost. If I had played well, we might have won the series."

After making several nearly impossible saves in the first few minutes of overtime, he gave up a breakaway goal to Hunter with 5:57 gone in the extra period.

The shot ruined what had been an encouraging evening for the beleaguered goalie. After a horrendous 11-minute stretch in the second period, in which he allowed three goals, he grew stronger and more confident. By the time overtime came along, he was playing as well as he had played in this seven-game series.

"He gave us the opportunity to win it," said Flyers captain Dave Poulin. "In overtime, the Capitals should have scored three, maybe four times before they did. He gave us a chance. I don't think the finger will ever be pointed at Ron."

Poulin might not be pointing a finger at Hextall, but Hextall is.

"I didn't have a good series and I think everybody knows that," he said. "I'll take my share of the blame. But I felt good the whole game. I was confident the whole game. I put everything out of my mind and went out and played one game.

"Unfortunately, I didn't make the last save."

The Flyers had more to worry about than that. They simply could not hold the lead.

"I think we felt in control, but we kept on working hard," said Ron Sutter. "Three goals hasn't proved to be much in this series. They made the best of their chances. We didn't make the best of ours."

"Give them credit," Poulin said of the Capitals. "We didn't sit back on our heels. We still played well."

The Flyers went into the locker room after regulation quite upbeat. "We were thinking we could end it early," Poulin said. "You have to think that way. You think you'll win it soon. We did that in Game 4. We thought we could do it again."

And then, when he had just stepped off the ice on a line change, Poulin heard the roar of the crowd, looked up and saw the Capitals mobbing Hunter.

"I don't have too much time to think about the other team," Poulin said. "I'm too concerned about what we're doing. But certainly, this is a huge win for them, considering their past history."

Tocchet said he understood how the Capitals felt as they celebrated in their locker room several hundred feet away.

"You've got to feel for them," he said. "Maybe this is their year."

"Washington probably deserved it," said Coach Mike Keenan. "They had the better chances."

"We were two evenly matched teams," Flyers General Manager Bobby Clarke told the Philadelphia Inquirer, "and we lost in a seventh game with an overtime goal . . . One overtime goal doesn't change the overall picture of the hockey club."

He said he didn't expect major changes in the off-season. "I don't see any reason for any. We finished with the same number of points as the Caps, and they beat us in overtime."