The Broad Street Blog

In this year’s playoffs, it has been the Flyers who have been making the habit of taking two goal leads, then blowing them. The roles were reversed tonight when the Montreal Canadiens would take a two goal lead, their first lead of the series, only to see it evaporate.

Through the first four games of this round two matchup, the Canadiens did not play a single minute with the lead. That would all change just over four minutes in, while on the power play, when Tomas Plekanec would deflect a Patrice Brisbois shot past Flyers goaltender Martin Biron. The Habs would only hold the lead for 5 minutes when Philadelphia would answer back. On a two on one, RJ Umberger was knocked down, but stayed with the puck and pushed it past Carey Price.

This game was do or die for Montreal, and they played like it. Alex Kovalev got the next goal when a shot from Maxim Lapierre deflected off of his skate. In the second period Christopher Higgins put a wrist shot behind Biron. Montreal now went up 3-1.

The Flyers were getting their chances at the other end on Carey Price, but he was there to make the saves. It seemed that Price was getting his confidence back with every save. Some teams may have conceded this game and looked to win at home in the next one. The Flyers knew the danger in doing that. In the previous round, Philadelphia had a 3 games to 1 lead, only to see Washington come back and win the next 2 games and force a decisive game 7. They did not want to give the Habs any sense that they could do the same.

Near the end of the second period, the Flyers took over the game. In a 3 minute span Philadelphia would get three goals to not only erase Montreal’s lead, but to also take the lead for themselves. Mike Richards got it started when RJ Umberger’s shot was deflected off of Richards’ glove and into the net. On Umberger’s next shift, he wrapped around the back of the net and put the puck past Price. Scott Hartnell would then skate into the zone and ring the puck off the post and into the net. The Flyers were now up 4-3 and back into Carey Price’s head.

The third period moved at a frenetic pace as the Flyers played with a killer instinct and the Canadiens fought for their lives. The Canadiens would tie it back up off a goal from Andrei Kostitsyn. But the theme of the night for the Flyers was resilience. Scottie Upshall deflected Jeff Carter’s shot to take the lead for the Flyers for the final time in the series. Mike Knuble added an empty net goal to ice the game and the series in the Flyers favor.


RJ Umberger proved to be a force in this series scoring 8 goals over the 5 games. He now has 9 goals through the first two rounds. Umberger and Danny Briere are 2 and 3 in the league in post season goals. Briere leads the league in Power Play goals and is tied for second in overall playoff scoring. Martin Biron, the Flyers defensive backbone, currently leads the league in wins. Click here for full post season statistics.

After being the worst team in the league, the Flyers are now heading back to the Eastern Conference Finals. They will play the winner of the Penguins-Rangers series. Currently the Penguins are up 3-1 in the series and game 5 will be played Sunday afternoon.

Highlights

Game Summary
Box Score

Tags:   canadiens · Knuble · Price · Richards · Umberger · UpshallNo Comments