Okay, so they haven’t closed out their series against the New York Rangers, but the Flyers have finished off the Montreal Canadiens. It didn’t look pretty early Saturday night, but the Flyers really found their momentum in the second period to put the Habs away in game 5. Carey Price started in goal for Montreal, but his confidence was no where to be found once R.J. Umberger got the initial goal for the Flyers.

On the power play (surprise, surprise) Tomas Plekanec scored at 4:29 as he deflected a Patrice Brisebois shot past Marty Biron who still came up big for the Flyers despite the early goal. At 10:20 R.J. Umberger answered with a goal of his own. The goal didn’t look pretty live, but when the replay came up, it was evident that after Umberger was crosschecked to the ice following his initial shot, he tipped in his own rebound past Carey Price. Alex Kovalev scored again to put the Habs on top at 11:28 when he positioned his skate to deflect a Maxim Lapierre offering through the five-hole of Biron.

In the second stanza, Chris Higgins scored at 8:15 from the side boards. It was the first goal of the playoffs that looked like Marty Biron had a reasonable change at stopping it. It was a goal that looked like it could have been stopped if the goaltender had the right angle, something Biron struggled with at times during the regular season. With the Flyers down two, a real leader had to step up to get his team back into it. That leader was Mike Richards. He tried to grab the puck out of mid-air so he could play it in front of the net, but he merely deflected the R.J. Umberger offering, and although inadvertently, put the puck past a helpless Price. The goal of course was under review, but the NHL rulebook sets the record straight.

Disallowed Goal - A goal cannot be scored by an attacking player
who bats or directs the puck with his hand into the net. A goal cannot
be scored by an attacking player who bats or directs the puck and it is
deflected into the net off any player, goalkeeper or official. When the
puck enters the net on a clear deflection off a glove, the goal shall be
allowed.
–NHL rule 67.6

Replays show that Richards had no intent of deflecting the puck past the Montreal net-minder. The Flyers weren’t done yet, as R.J. Umberger decided that for his 26th birthday he wanted a shit-load of Tastycakes. Umberger scored his ninth goal of the playoffs, second goal of the game, and third point, for his second case of Tastycakes in less than 20 minutes of play. At 17:00 the Flyers took their first lead of the game when Scott Hartnell took a slap-shot that rang off the right post and past Carey Price. As the Flyers headed to the locker room for the second intermission it seemed as though the night might be over for the confused, rather rejected Carey Price who was pulled in game 3 and backed up Jaroslav Halak in game 4. But when Guy Carboneau flipped the coin during intermission (that’s the only reasonable way we can assume he picks his goaltender based on what he’s done this series) the price was right.

In the third Montreal came out firing, not wanting to end their season in front of their home crowd (they already endured one riot at home after a game 7 win over Boston). At 2:13 Andrei Kostitsyn, of the Kostitsyn brothers whom have been so acclaimed during Versus’ coverage of the NHL playoffs, fired a wrist-shot through the legs of Kimmo Timonen and past Biron. About half way through the period, Danny Briere had a breakaway and went low stick-side on Price who stretched his pad out and made the save, surely gaining some of his confidence back.

At 16:56 it was officially crunch time and the Flyers were still going hard. Jeff Carter fired a wrist-shot from the high slot and Scottie Upshall deflected it behind Price to give the Flyers the 5-4 lead. The Flyers were able to breathe a bit of a sigh of relief, but never let up. With the Canadiens pressuring deep in the Flyers end the orange and black were able to hold them off and Mike Knuble put the puck in an empty net at 19:10 to end it.

The Flyers went from the worst team in hockey last year to the Eastern Conference Finals. For the first game in the series the Flyers played better than Biron rather than the other way around. The Philadelphia Flyers will advance after defeating the number 1 seeded Montreal Canadiens, to the Eastern Conference Finals. They wanted vengeance, and although they have only tasted that vengeance, they are not done yet.

Dave’s 3 Stars of the Game

1. R.J. Umberger - 2 goals 1 assist
2. Scottie Upshall - game winning goal
3. Mike Richards - 1 goal 1 assist

Photo courtesy: The Canadian Press