This piece of code is not perfect, but demonstrates a different approach using HTML::TokeParser::Simple:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

use HTML::TokeParser::Simple;
use File::Find;

find(\&wanted, 'pages');

exit;

sub wanted {

  my ($open, $buffer);

  return unless -f $_;

  my $p = HTML::TokeParser::Simple->new( $_ ) or die "can't parse $_: 
+$!";
  while (my $token = $p->get_token) {
    if ($open) {
      if ($token->is_comment && $token->as_is =~ /\/table/i) {
        $open = 0;
      } else {
        $buffer .= $token->as_is;
      }
    } else {
      if ($token->is_comment && $token->as_is =~ /table/i) {
        $open = 1;
      }
    }
  }

  print $buffer, "\n";
}
[download]

HTH, Valerio