MONTREAL — After letting a two-game series lead slip away in the first round of the playoffs, the Philadelphia Flyers did their utmost to avoid the same fate and close out their second-round series against the Montreal Canadiens.

Scottie Upshall scored with 3:04 remaining in the third period and Philadelphia advanced to the Eastern Conference final with a 6-4 win over Montreal on Saturday night.

Upshall deflected Jeff Carter’s shot past Carey Price to give the Flyers their second and final lead of the game as Philadelphia won the conference semifinal in five games.

“It was a great feeling,” Upshall said. “A tie game with three minutes left, it’s anybody’s game — it’s one shot, it’s one bounce. (Carter) made a great shot on net. I was in the lane to see the puck and I thought I could get a stick on it and redirect it, and to get a big goal like that is pretty uplifting for your spirits.”

The Flyers are the second team to reach the conference finals after the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings got there in the West by sweeping the Colorado Avalanche.

Philadelphia will face the winner of the Pittsburgh Penguins-New York Rangers series. The Penguins lead 3-1; Game 5 is today in Pittsburgh.

R.J. Umberger had two goals and an assist to finish the five-game series with eight goals and one assist after he had a goal and an assist in seven games against Washington.

“Well, maybe someday I’ll tell my grandkids or something like that. That would be fun,” Umberger said. “I’m just going to take a moment, enjoy it but stay focused. There’s plenty of time after it’s over to celebrate it and enjoy it, but right now we have one thing on our minds.”

Martin Biron stopped 31 shots for the Flyers, whose last appearance in the East final was in 2004 when they lost to Tampa Bay.

The Flyers’ win also assured the first all-U.S. Stanley Cup final since 2003 and extended Canada’s title drought to 15 years. Montreal won it all in 1993.

Philadelphia finished the 2006-07 season last overall in the NHL with 56 points, the lowest total in team history.

“That’s unbelievable. You don’t expect something like that,” Umberger said of the turnaround. “I think our team was better than where we finished last year but at the same time the guys that were here last year really focused in the summer and came into the season right, and the organization did an incredible job retooling our team and giving us a chance to compete this year.”

Mike Richards and Scott Hartnell scored as Philadelphia got three second-period goals to take a 4-3 lead. Mike Knuble scored into an empty net with 50 seconds left.

Andrei Kostitsyn scored at 2:13 of the third to draw Montreal even at 4-all.

Kostitsyn took Tomas Plekanec’s drop pass and used Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen as a screen to put a wrist shot past Biron.

Price returned to the Montreal net after he was replaced in Game 4 by Jaroslav Halak. The 20-year-old rookie made 32 saves.