Ann 22008 NHL Playoffs - Round 2: Montreal Canadiens vs. Philadelphia Flyers Game 5 REVIEW
May 4th 2008 22:09
Flyers eliminate Canadiens with a 6-4 win.
When snakebit Christopher Higgins put the score at 3-1 at the beginning of the second period, the whole Bell Centre started believing. Carbo had his tie. The Habs had scored the first goal on the powerplay, killing two birds with one stone. They also succesfully killed a 5-on-3 right after Higgins' goal. What happened, you might ask. It's simple, really. While the Habs' offense finally woke up, their defense offered one of their worst performance since the beginning of the season.
In three minutes, the score turned 4-3 in favor of the visitors. The Flyers' second goal deflected off Lupul's glove at 14:02. At 15:44, R.J. Umberger scored his second of the night when Roman Harmlik couldn't control the puck. And, finally at 17:00, Scott Hartnell fired a perfect shot at Price after a bad defensive line change from the Canadiens. Andrei K. brought back hope when he equalized the mark but, once again, Carey Price simply wasn't the same and looked jittery during the third period. The goalie often described as having ice water running in his veins looked like a 20 year old who simply couldn't bear the much pressure. It was too much to ask of him. Let's only hope that he will come back stronger next year.
The Flyers were their usual opportunistic selves. A lot has been said about Brière and Biron, two quebeckers fighting against their province's team (although Biron was a fervent fanatic of the Quebec Nordiques, the Habs' sworn enemies; and Briere is technically from the Gatineau region, thus should be with Ottawa). But the real story of this series was R.J. Umberger. The 6'2'' center had scored only 13 goals in the regular season but was a real sniper against Montreal with 8 goals in 5 games.
The Flyers now go on to face the Penguins in the Eastern Conference final. The Pens, who had sacrificed a Conference title to avoid the Flyers in the first round, will now hope that their strategy won't come back to bite them in the ass. The Canadiens can be proud of themselves. A lot of fans are obviously disappointed. Consulting the media outlets today, I noticed that everyone in the organization has been blamed for this elimination: Bob Gainey, for dealing away a veteran goalie (Huet) and not getting a game-breaking scorer (Hossa) at the trade deadline; Carbonneau, for being a stubborn coach; Koivu, for being the captain that will never win anything; and the Russian players, for not playing the North American style of hockey. What people seem to forget is that the Habs have a very promising goalie (Price), skillful young forwards (Plekanec and the brothers K.), and the right mix of youth (Gorges, O'Byrne, Komisarek) and veterans (Harmlik, Bouillon, Markov is a semi-veteran) at the blue line. This team was expected to finish 14th at the end of the season. Instead, they won their division, their conference, and went as far as the second round. They also had the number one powerplay and the most goals scored in the league. They should build on that for a great celebration in their centennial year.
I'm a bit confused by the scheduling in the Western Conference. So, in case I didn't mention it, the Sharks won 3-2 in OT against the Stars. Dallas leads the series 3-2 and the heat is now on them to get rid of San José.
I'll post the Penguins-Rangers Game 5 review tomorrow along with Round 3 match-ups.
When snakebit Christopher Higgins put the score at 3-1 at the beginning of the second period, the whole Bell Centre started believing. Carbo had his tie. The Habs had scored the first goal on the powerplay, killing two birds with one stone. They also succesfully killed a 5-on-3 right after Higgins' goal. What happened, you might ask. It's simple, really. While the Habs' offense finally woke up, their defense offered one of their worst performance since the beginning of the season.
In three minutes, the score turned 4-3 in favor of the visitors. The Flyers' second goal deflected off Lupul's glove at 14:02. At 15:44, R.J. Umberger scored his second of the night when Roman Harmlik couldn't control the puck. And, finally at 17:00, Scott Hartnell fired a perfect shot at Price after a bad defensive line change from the Canadiens. Andrei K. brought back hope when he equalized the mark but, once again, Carey Price simply wasn't the same and looked jittery during the third period. The goalie often described as having ice water running in his veins looked like a 20 year old who simply couldn't bear the much pressure. It was too much to ask of him. Let's only hope that he will come back stronger next year.
The Flyers were their usual opportunistic selves. A lot has been said about Brière and Biron, two quebeckers fighting against their province's team (although Biron was a fervent fanatic of the Quebec Nordiques, the Habs' sworn enemies; and Briere is technically from the Gatineau region, thus should be with Ottawa). But the real story of this series was R.J. Umberger. The 6'2'' center had scored only 13 goals in the regular season but was a real sniper against Montreal with 8 goals in 5 games.
The Flyers now go on to face the Penguins in the Eastern Conference final. The Pens, who had sacrificed a Conference title to avoid the Flyers in the first round, will now hope that their strategy won't come back to bite them in the ass. The Canadiens can be proud of themselves. A lot of fans are obviously disappointed. Consulting the media outlets today, I noticed that everyone in the organization has been blamed for this elimination: Bob Gainey, for dealing away a veteran goalie (Huet) and not getting a game-breaking scorer (Hossa) at the trade deadline; Carbonneau, for being a stubborn coach; Koivu, for being the captain that will never win anything; and the Russian players, for not playing the North American style of hockey. What people seem to forget is that the Habs have a very promising goalie (Price), skillful young forwards (Plekanec and the brothers K.), and the right mix of youth (Gorges, O'Byrne, Komisarek) and veterans (Harmlik, Bouillon, Markov is a semi-veteran) at the blue line. This team was expected to finish 14th at the end of the season. Instead, they won their division, their conference, and went as far as the second round. They also had the number one powerplay and the most goals scored in the league. They should build on that for a great celebration in their centennial year.
I'm a bit confused by the scheduling in the Western Conference. So, in case I didn't mention it, the Sharks won 3-2 in OT against the Stars. Dallas leads the series 3-2 and the heat is now on them to get rid of San José.
I'll post the Penguins-Rangers Game 5 review tomorrow along with Round 3 match-ups.
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Comment by James Rickard
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