 |
POWER
PLAY |
2ND
- 21.8 |
PENALTY
KILL |
12TH
- 83.2 |
FORWARDS |
MIKE
RICHARDS |
28-47-75
(+14) |
DANIEL
BRIERE |
31-41-72
(-22) |
VACLAV
PROSPAL |
33-38-71
(0) |
DEFENSEMEN |
KIMMO
TIMONEN |
8-36-44
(0) |
BRAYDON
COBURN |
9-27-36
(+17) |
RANDY
JONES |
5-26-31
(+8) |
GOALTENDERS |
MARTIN
BIRON |
30-20-9
(5 SO)
2.59 GA
.918 PCT |
|
ANTERO
NITTYMAKI |
12-9-2
(1 SO)
2.91 GA
.907 PCT |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
NY
Rangers vs Montreal |
|
|
SCHEDULE |
|
1 |
APR. 24 |
PHILADELPHIA
3 - MONTREAL 4 (OT) |
SEED
6 |
2 |
APR. 26 |
PHILADELPHIA
4 - MONTREAL 2 |
SEED
1 |
42-29-11
(95) |
3 |
APR. 28 |
MONTREAL
2 - PHILADELPHIA 3 |
47-25-10
(104) |
| |
4 |
APR. 30 |
MONTREAL
2 - PHILADELPHIA 4 |
|
| |
5 |
MAY 3 |
PHILADELPHIA
6 - MONTREAL 4 |
|
| |
6 |
MAY 4 |
MONTREAL at PHILADELPHIA |
|
| |
7 |
MAY 6 |
PHILADELPHIA at MONTREAL |
|
|
Philadelphia
Wins Series 4-1 |
|
SERIES
PREVIEW |
| |
Philadelphia
42-29-11 95 points
The Flyers had one of the best playoff series in the first
round against the Washington Capitals that went the full
seven games. In typical Flyers fashion they made life
miserable for the home fans by blowing Games 5 and 6,
but for once the Flyers came through to end their suffering,
even if it is just for one night.
The Flyers will once again be the underdog going into
the series with the Habs, but this series will by no means
be a blowout just because Montreal won all four games
against the Flyers this season. Get ready for another
great six or seven game series.
Forwards
Daniel Briere was a monster in the 'Caps series. Briere
had points in every game of the series and leads all players
will 11 points heading into the series. Vinnie Prospal
has been a godsend for Briere ever since coming over from
the Lightning in a trade deadline move. Prospal is tied
for second in the league in points with 9. Not to be outdone
was Mike Richards who has tied for 10th with 2 goals and
5 assists. Jeff Carter was one of the Flyers most aggressive
forwards when he had the puck with his size and speed.
He will once again be counted on to be a difference maker
in the series.
Overall the Flyers balance on offense will pose a huge
challenge for Montreal, more so than offensively challenged
Boston was, and they took the Habs to a seventh game.
Defense
Kimmo Timonen had the job of covering Alexander Ovechkin
during the Caps series and did a great job despite "Ovie’s"
4 goals in the series. Braydon Coburn was solid all series
long and is paired with Timonen. The rest of the Flyers
defense is suspect to say the least. Derian Hatcher and
Jason Smith are both over 30 and looked it playing against
the 'Caps faster, younger forwards. Head Coach John Stevens
will have to limit both players ice time to mostly penalty
killing time if they are to have success.
Lasse Kuukonen should get more ice time as the sixth spot
on defense, but this situation that might change on a
game-per-game basis. Rookie Ryan Parent is the future,
but as usual the Flyers don’t use rookies in the playoffs
unless they feel they have too. Realistically he should
be in the lineup against the faster Canadiens. Randy Jones
will remain in the lineup but he could also sit a game
or two in this series.
Goaltending
So many questions were asked about Marty Biron heading
into the playoffs, but so far he has answered all or most
of them. He has definitely answered the one about if he
is good enough a playoff goaltender. Besides Briere, Biron
was arguably the Flyers best player. He also answered
the question about handling games on back-to-back nights
which he did in fine fashion winning Game 7, after losing
Game 6 the previous night.
Montreal 47-25-10 104 points
Has Montreal already won the Cup? According to their fans
apparently so; as they rioted and carried on like they
had won it all after the knocked off Boston. Most fans
and cities have the common decency to actually wait for
a championship before going on a wild, especially since
it took seven games to beat a team they were supposed
to in four. I guess if they beat Philadelphia the Canadian
Marines will need to be on hand.
In actuality it was a shame the club’s fans had to take
some of the spotlight off the gritty Canadiens club they
support. After a tremendous first game against the Bruins
the Habs were defeated soundly through the next five games.
But the Canadiens—with a little prodding from Coach Guy
Charbonneau—played like true champions in Game 7 leaving
little to chance.
Forwards
Saku Koivu was the Canadiens best forward on the ice after
returning from a foot injury in Game 6. Koivu played over
15 minutes in each game, was physical and productive with
three assists. It could be argued Koivu is their best
forward, but Alex Kovalev is the most influential. Kovalev
can almost be considered the barometer of the club. When
he plays well the team does too. When Kovalev was on against
Boston, Montreal dominated, when he was held in check
the club was ordinary. Chris Higgins rounds out the line.
The unit of Tomas Plekanec and the Kostitsyn brothers
produced secondary scoring like a first line would as
they combined for seven goals (Kovalev played with Andrei
and Sergei at times in the first round). Bryan Smolinski
played well defensively against Boston and his line with
Steve Begin and Tom Kostopolous also picked up a few back-breaking
goals. Mark Streit gets the occasional shift up front
and he has played well when healthy. Michael Ryder, Guillaume
Latendresse and Mathieu Dandenault wrap up the front lines.
Defense
Andrei Markov needs to play better in this round and Roman
Hamrlik needs to provide the same spark he did in the
first round. Michael Komisarek has turned into a shot-blocking,
physical beast. Komisarek went through a seven-game battle
with Milan Lucic that had to wear on the Montreal defender.
Komisarek will be on the ice when the best Philadelphia
forwards are and the Flyers are probably going to come
after him just as the Bruins did. Patrice Brisebois and
Francois Bouillon had their ups-and-downs in the first
round against Boston. They are going to have to be steadier
in this round. Josh Gorges is Charbonneau’s best defensive
option after the top three defenders. Ryan O’Byrne is
the top reserve.
Goaltending
Carey Price is going to be more consistent against Philadelphia
than he was against the Bruins because there is little
to no wiggle room. Two shutouts and then two games with
five goals against just won’t do it. Price was told to
stop wandering from his cage so much before Game 7 against
Boston and had a great game while keeping it simpler than
usual. Price is a big goaltender who fills up the bottom
of the net, it may be a cliché to go high on a goaltender
that plays this style, but when Boston got the puck higher
they scored more. Jaroslav Halak did little more than
open the bench gate in the series against Boston.
What to expect
The Canadiens pretty much had their way against the Flyers
this year and historically have done very well against
Philadelphia. Montreal had the same historical success
against the Boston Bruins as they do with Philadelphia
and that series worked out okay.
Montreal fans booed Boston’s Zdeno Chara all series long
and will do so with a vengeance against Daniel Briere.
The locals believe Briere spurned an excellent offer to
return home to Quebec during this past summer’s free agent
season. Montreal is in control of their destiny in this
series. They have to treat each game as if it were important,
they cannot go into cruise mode like they did against
Boston for a few games and still win this series.
Montreal will be the quicker team on the ice, but Philadelphia
has some guys who can fly too. The forwards are going
to need to play with desire against a bigger and better
defensive crew than Boston has and the Flyers also have
more weapons than the Bruins did. Desire and goaltending
will be keys for Montreal.
For the Flyers the key will be to score first, and score
often. The defense can’t afford to keep on blowing two
goals leads. Montreal won’t slack off for any second this
series so keeping up with the Habs will be another key
to the Flyers winning.
Biron has a slight edge in goal over Price, despite the
high expectations that are on him. Price is not in the
Hall Of Fame, but most Habs fans are treating him as though
he is already having his bust made up for it.
Still, on the surface it looks as though this is a match
made in hockey heaven. It should be a great series that
will most likely go the full seven games.
|
|
|
Game
1 |
Philadelphia
3 - Montreal 4 (OT) |
| by Tom Schettino - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Montreal
Leads Series 1-0 |
Montreal
- Alex Kovalev provided the spark and Tom Kostopoulos fueled the fire (hopefully not literally in Montreal) as the Canadiens late-game rally stunned the Philadelphia Flyers.
The two clubs battled evenly throughout Game 1 with Montreal getting off 38 shots on goal while Philadelphia had 36. When it appeared the Flyers were going to win the game with less than 30 seconds ago the Canadiens displayed some patented Montreal-magic.
With goaltender Carey Price on the bench for an extra attacker Saku Koivu won a faceoff to the left of Flyers goaltender Martin Biron. The puck wheeled out to the top of the circle where Kovalev corralled it and ripped a quick wrister past Biron to tie the contest at three.
In contrast to an evenly played regulation game, overtime was all Montreal. Kostopoulos nearly ended the contest with his first attempt, but Biron made a save on him. Play continued back to Montreal blueliner Andrei Markov who pushed the puck back to Kostopoulos who finished the game just 48 seconds into overtime.
Philadelphia had their chances to win this game as they held two leads, including a two-goal lead early in the game. R.J. Umberger was credited with the game's first goal when he fired a pass across the ice that was inadvertently knocked into the Montreal net by Canadiens defender Patrice Brisebois. Jim Dowd doubled the lead when he ripped one home from the slot.
Montreal chipped into the first lead with a pair of chances by Andrei Kostitsyn. The senior Kostitsyn had a chance to score Montreal's first goal, but was denied on a penalty shot by Biron. Andrei finally broke through on Biron when he fired a puck through a crowd with an assist from Sergei. Kovalev's first of two was a controversial short-handed goal which only stood after video review. While shorthanded Kovalev picked up a puck and brought it up ice before handing it over to Tomas Plekanec. Plekanec directed it on goal where Kovalev deflected it in with his stick. Biron and the Flyers claimed Kovalev's stick was too high, but no official would agree and the score was tied.
Joffrey Lupul put the Flyers up once again early in the period when Braydon Coburn's shot was stopped by Price but he could not control the rebound. The puck dropped to the goal line where Lupul banged it home to give the Flyers their last ill-fated lead.
Game Notes
Philadelphia was without the services of Mike Knuble and Jaroslav Modry. Knuble is injured while Modry remains in the Czech Republic for the funeral of his father.
|
|
| Game
2 |
Philadelphia
4 - Montreal 2 |
| by
Tom Schettino - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Series
Tied 1-1 |
Montreal
- For once the Philadelphia Flyers refused to give up the lead and by retaining the lead they tied their series with Montreal at one game apiece.
By all rights the Canadiens should be heading to the United States with a two-game lead in this series but they were held back by a lackluster performance from Carey Price. Goaltending was the difference in this game as Philadelphia received a strong 34 save effort from Martin Biron while Price struggled in goal for Montreal with several of the Flyers goals being ordinary at best.
R.J Umberger scored twice, including the first goal of the game which came off an innocent cycle play. The young and old meshed together on the scoring play as 25-year old Umberger worked a cycle on the right boards with 39-year old Jim Dowd. The two passed the puck to each other before Umberger took it to the top of the circle and beat Price cleanly on a shot in which the Habs netminder may have been screened by Saku Koivu.
Price was beat from the same side minutes later when Jeff Carter broke down the right side while on a power play and wristed the puck into the goal.
Philadelphia has blown several leads in the playoffs this year, including twice in Game 1 of this series, and the stage was set for another setback when Koivu’s wraparound shot eluded Biron late in the first period.
However the Flyers fended off Montreal’s first come back attempt when Daniel Briere scored on a tremendous individual effort. Briere, Montreal fan’s boo-bird target for this series, collected a pass from Vaclav Prospal and skated the puck to the Montreal goal, backhanding it under Price and off the left post to give the Flyers another two-goal lead.
Once again Montreal tried to get back into the game when Andrei Markov was left unattended in the slot for an easy goal. That left it up to Umberger who scored his second goal of the night when he batted the puck out of the air as Price was trying to catch it. The puck landed to the left of Price and Umberger tapped it home for his fourth goal of the playoffs.
Game 3 of this series is set for Philadelphia on Monday night.
|
|
| Game
3 |
Montreal
2 - Philadelphia 3 |
| by
Brian Jennings - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Philadelphia
Leads Series 2-1 |
Philadelphia,
PA - Flyers goaltender Martin Biron once again
stole the show for the Philadelphia making 32 saves to
help the Flyers win 3-2 in a nail-biter in south Philly.
The Flyers were out-shot 34-14 on the night but Biron
had the answer to the Canadiens, including a great stick
save on Saku Koivu in the first period that set the tone
for the night.
After a scoreless first period, the Flyers got to the
Habs starting goaltender Carey Price in the second period
scoring three times to give the Flyers a 3-0 lead heading
into the third period.
Price was pulled in the third period as Jaroslav Halak
came in and had to make only two saves in the third as
the Habs were all over the Flyers, mainly due to a five-minute
major penalty on defenseman Derian Hatcher.
The Canadiens scored twice on the power play to make the
score 3-2 and continued to put the pressure on the Flyers
and Biron the rest of the night.
The Canadiens had chance after chance on Biron but just
couldn’t get it past him. Biron was easily the star of
the game, and with the win gave the Flyers a 2-1 series
lead.
After the win, Saku Koivu spoke about the position the
Habs are in.
“Yeah, it seems that we’re being tested right now. I don’t
think we played as well tonight as we did in the second
game, but still we are able to put a lot of pucks on net
and create chances.”
The Habs captain also made sure no one was blaming Price
for the loss. “You feel for your teammate. I think he’s
part of the team, but he is being tested. Throughout the
season we won games as a team and we lost as a team, and
that’s the way were going to go until the end.”
Spoken like a true captain.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
|
|
| Game
4 |
Montreal
2 - Philadelphia 4 |
| by
Brian Jennings - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Philadelphia
Leads Series 3-1 |
Philadelphia,
PA - Blowing two-goal leads has become a habit
for the Flyers this playoff season, so much so that people
in the south Philly area are no doubt being sent to the
hospital in droves due to cardiac arrest after Flyers
games.
R.J. Umberger had two goals and Daniel Briere had the
game-winner on the power play with 3:38 left in the game
to give the Flyers a 4-2 win. Flyers goaltender Martin
Biron is having a habit of his own these days, that of
a star playoff goalie. Biron made 36 saves on the night
to once again put the Flyers on the brink of winning another
playoff series. With the win, the Flyers can wrap up the
best-of-seven series Saturday night in Montreal.
Once again the Flyers were outshot on the night 38-26,
and once again it was Biron who had almost every answer
to the Canadiens pressure.
Just like in Game 3 the first period was scoreless with
the Canadiens picking up where they left of outshooting
Philly 14-7. However, it was Jeff Carter who had the best
chance on a shorthanded breakaway but missed a backhanded
chance on Habs goaltender Jaroslav Halak
Both teams had some decent chances but Umberger made the
most of his as he skated down the left wing and took a
cross-ice pass from Briere and burned a shot past Halak
for a 1-0 lead heading into the third period.
Scott Hartnell put in a rebound off of a shot by Vinnie
Prospal while coming down the right wing and gave the
Flyers a 2-0 lead. As usual, it looked as though the score
would stay that way until the Canadiens scored twice within
a span of only 37 seconds to tied the game at 2-2, thanks
to goals by Tomas Plekanec and Saku Koivu.
It appeared as though the game would go into overtime,
but in this series, things are never as they seem. The
Canadiens Steve Begin took a bad penalty on Sami Kapanen
to give the Flyers a power play with 4:08 left to go in
the game. Briere, as he has done throughout the playoffs,
was in the right place at the right time and put home
a rebound to the right of Halak had and the Flyer faithful
went crazy as the puck went in the net.
Once again the Flyers had to hang on to dear life at the
end of the hockey game, this time Umberger gave the fans
reason to breath with an empty net goal and a 4-2 win.
The two teams will meet again Saturday night in Montreal.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
|
|
| Game
5 |
Philadelphia
6 - Montreal 4 |
| by
Tom Schettino - PROHOCKEYNEWS.COM |
Philadelphia
Wins Series 4-1 |
Philadelphia,
PA - For a team pilloried for blowing leads it is only fair the Philadelphia Flyers move on to the Eastern Conference Finals after erasing a lead.
Philadelphia fell behind the Montreal Canadiens during regulation time for the first time in the series when Tomas Plekanec tipped in Patrice Brisebois’ shot from the point during a Montreal power play early in the first period.
The Canadiens looked as if they were going to roll through the Flyers and force a Game 6 when they took a 3-1 lead on the strength of goals from Alexei Kovalev and Christopher Higgins. Kovalev was credited for the score when Maxim Lapierre banked the puck off Kovalev’s skate while Higgins notched his goal with a wicked wrist shot past Philadelphia netminder Martin Biron.
But Montreal’s fortunes would not last and their playoff hopes, and the hopes of the entire nation, crumbled under the weight of a persistent Flyers team. Philadelphia started their comeback when R.J. Umberger’s shot deflected off Mike Richards’ shoulder and into the net. Umberger, who notched eight goals during the series, picked up his second of the night to tie the game. Umberger picked up the puck on the left side of the net, circled behind the goal and fired one past an overwhelmed Carey Price to knot the game at three. Philadelphia took their first lead of the night a little over a minute later when Scott Hartnell ripped a slap shot past Price.
Montreal had one last gasp in them. Andrei Kostitsyn fired a wrist shot past Biron early in the third period to tie the game, but that would be the Canadiens last score of the season. Not that they did not have chances, both clubs did, as the period aged and overtime loomed as a possibility.
Both goaltenders made key saves to keep the game tied during the middle stages of the third period. Two notable chances were denied when Price stopped Daniel Briere on a breakaway and Biron was helped by the post when Guillaume Latendresse’s shot pinged off the iron.
The game never made it into overtime due to Scottie Upshall’s hand-to-eye co-ordination. With just over three minutes left in the final period Jeff Carter floated an innocent looking shot towards the goal which could have been easily stopped but Upshall deflected it past Price for the eventual series-winner. Montreal desperately tried to even the contest but fell further behind when Mike Knuble’s second effort on an empty net was cashed in.
Philadelphia will go on to face the winner of the Pittsburgh Penguins-New York Rangers series. Should Pittsburgh win it will set up an all-Pennsylvania series. There is already such a series taking place in the AHL as the Flyers top farm team the Philadelphia Phantoms are facing off against Pittsburgh’s top farm club, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the AHL’s East Division championship. The Flyers win sets up an all-USA final series for the first time since 2003 and marks the first time a team which finished last overall in the NHL the season before is in a conference final playoff round.
The nation of Belarus might be the biggest benefactors of Montreal’s loss as they hope to add Sergei and Andrei Kostitsyn along with Mikhail Grabovski to their World Championship roster. The Canadiens loss ensures Canada will be without a Stanley Cup winner for a fifteenth consecutive season. The last team based in Canada to win the Cup was the Canadiens in 1993.
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
POWER
PLAY |
1ST
- 24.2 |
PENALTY
KILL |
15TH
- 82.5 |
FORWARDS |
ALEXEI
KOVALEV |
35-49-84
(+18) |
TOMAS
PLEKANEC |
29-40-69
(+15) |
SAKU
KOIVU |
16-40-56
(-4) |
DEFENSEMEN |
MARK
STREIT |
13-49-62
(-6) |
ANDREI
MARKOV |
16-42-58
(+1) |
ROMAN
HAMRLIK |
5-21-26
(+7) |
GOALTENDERS |
CAREY
PRICE |
24-12-3
(3 SO)
2.56 GA
.920 PCT |
|
JAROSLAV
HALAK |
2-1-1
(1 SO)
2.11 GA
.934 PCT |
|
|
|
