SCHEDULE
GAME 1 - @ MON - Thu Apr 24, 7:00 PM CSN
GAME 2 - @ MON - Sat Apr 26, 7:00 PM VERSUS
GAME 3 - @ PHI - Mon Apr 28, 7:00 PM VERSUS
GAME 4 - @ PHI - Wed Apr 30, 7:00 PM CSN
*GAME 5 - @ MON - Sat May 3, 7:00 PM TBD
*GAME 6 - @ PHI - Sun May 4, 7:00 PM TBD
*GAME 7 - @ MON - Tue May 6, 7:00 PM TBD
*if necessary

CANADIEN REVIEWE (sorry now I’m forced to make fun of everything Canadian)
The Habs chopped away at Ottawa’s lead in the regular season and eventually shot ahead of them and won the top seed in the East. They are a much more balanced team than the Capitals were. They have gotten great veteran leadership so far in the playoffs from lé capitaine Alex Kovalev (2g 4a). Also impressive are the brothers Kostitsyn. The youngest, Sergei, was 200e au total in the 2005 draft. He is tied with Kovalev for the team lead in playoff points with 6 (3g 3a). His older brother Andrei, ain’t too bad either. He has 5 points (3g 2a). Those are the key offensive weapons for the Habs, so Flyers defensive specialist Kimmo Timonen will surely have his hands full.

Roman Hamrlik will be the biggest battle the Flyers will have to face in order to get to rookie goaltender Carey Price. The 34 year old will try and keep the Flyers from crashing the net, something they did effectively in their first round match up, and will have to do again in order to advance. So on to Price de savior. Don’t let his two shutouts in the first round fool you, he hasn’t exactly been Vezina material thus far. He allowed 10 goals in two games, so he can definitely be beaten. And at times he got ambitious and misplayed the puck against Boston.

KEYS TO THE SERIES

This Montréal hockey team plays the same type of physical game the Flyers do, and are just as deep. This series will come down to who can clear their own front porch better, allowing the goaltender to see the shots. The Flyers have to crash the net and disturb Carey Price. They need to keep playing physical and remember to play an entire 60 minutes (at least). The stamina of the Flyers wasn’t very good last series and quite frankly were lucky they didn’t lose games 4 and 7. That being said, if they had played with heart throughout the whole contest during games 5 and 6, they might have closed the series out earlier.

The Flyers need to continue to get shots on net. Danny Briere is public enemy # un in Montréal, especially he didn’t sign with them in the off-season. The Flyers’ leading scorer needs to dish off the puck, perhaps to Vinny Prospal or Mike Richards, because they will mark Briere well.

This series may very well come down to goaltending, because these two teams are so similar. Marty Biron played his first playoff series brilliantly, especially in game 7. He needs to maintain the confidence he played with to close out the Caps. Carey Price was impressive enough that the Canadiens were willing to trade Cristobal Huet and let their playoff hopes lie on the shoulders of 20 year old Price. We’ll see if he can continue to play well in the post season.

SCRATCHED UP

Montréal

Philadelphia

PREDICTION

Flyers in 7. This guy knows what I’m talkin’ about. Come on, you didn’t really expect me to pick against them, did you? If Boston can push it to 7 games against this team, the Flyers should be able to win that last game. Regardless of the outcome, I fear for the city of Montréal.  Look what they did when they won a first round playoff series. I can only imagine they would torch the entire city in the clever shape of a Habs logo if they won in the second round. If that’s the case…what happens when they lose?

In depth NHL playoff coverage coming up this week.

THE SEASON SERIES

Thu Nov 1, 2007

Canadiens win 5-2.

Thu Dec 13, 2007

Canadiens win 4-1.

Sat Feb 16, 2008

Canadiens win 1-0.

Sun Feb 17, 2008

Canadiens win 5-3.