Flyers dominate Canadiens, 6-0
Flyers 6, Canadiens 0
Flyers dominate Canadiens, 6-0
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
After seven games of hell against the Boston Bruins, it was hard to know exactly what to expect from the Flyers in the first game of the NHL Eastern Conference finals against the Montreal Canadiens. A letdown would have been entirely understandable. A nervous, taut kind of game against a battle-tested opponent seemed pretty likely.
But a rout? Didn't see that coming.
Still, there it was: Flyers 6, Canadiens 0.
Outshot at home, the Flyers still managed to chase Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak from the game after scoring four goals on their first 13 shots. The team that has defied expectations for a month now -- winning as an underdog in the first round against New Jersey, coming from behind as an all-time underdog in the second round against Boston -- never sweated for a second of Game 1.
(Important traditional caveat: miles to go yet, et cetera. Especially against a Montreal team that wouldn't know what to do with a series lead if you handed it to them wrapped in a bow, and doesn't seem to care.)
The goals were of every style and flavor. Defenseman Braydon Coburn scored the first one, at 3:55 of the first period, from about 2 feet out on a power play, banging a free puck past Halak. Thirty seconds into the second period, James van Riemsdyk, awakened in Game 7 against Boston and still very much awake, scored soon after a faceoff, whacking away from in the crease on a puck shoved his way by Claude Giroux.
After that came two goal-scorer's goals -- a Danny Briere slapshot from the circle, a rocket high to Halak's glove side, and then a Simon Gagne shot through traffic in front provided by Ville Leino. It was Briere's eighth of the playoffs. For Gagne, who had the overtime winner in Game 4 of the Bruins series and the comeback-clincher in Game 7 -- it was his fifth.
At which point, Halak left and was replaced by Carey Price. And, at which point, the crowd at the Wachovia Center began amusing itself with the ole-ole chant that they never do here but always hear on television from the Bell Centre.
The only thing left to see was if Michael Leighton could hold on to his shutout. It remains a ridiculous story, Leighton's emergence this season from nowhere -- and his emergence in the middle of the second round after Brian Boucher was injured -- will be told and re-told in years to come (and really, really told and re-told if the Flyers can milk this thing for a couple of more weeks).
The truth is, since taking over from Boucher in the middle of Game 5 against Boston, Leighton has played about 10 shaky minutes -- at the start of Game 7 in Boston -- and about 200 superlative minutes other than that.
The truth is that he and his teammates made the whole thing last night almost boringly routine. Never, ever saw that coming.
Buy Flyers tix to Game 2 
What a fantastic game. Well done by all. Good to see JVR in playoff form.— BlairW- Go Flyers!!— brickhead
- This was scary easy. Remember the Pens did the same thing in Game 1 to Halak last series. Pedal to the 'mettle'!— Brian F.
- Flyers simply dominated. Not for a moment was this result in doubt. So much for Halak's invicibility. His confidence has to have been dented a bit. Yes, it might be too early to get too giddy. Don't see this series going six. Maybe Montreal grinds out a victory in Montreal, but that's it. Montreal simply caused few problems.— phillyfury
Yeah...the Habs have shown that you can't ease up on them until you have won 4 games against them.- One down three to go. Everyone should be rested and healthy for game two and take it up a notch. Montreal will play better.— notch44
- wow, just wow— lukebonbon
- A solid job-like hockey game played by a team who has a destiney with greatness. I do not believe any NHL team can take a seven game series from the Flyers as locked in as they are. I thought right before the Olympic break that this could be a great team. Man, how can you not love this team right now?— brickhead
- This team is amaaaaaaaazzzing... they keep this level of play up... they will win the Cup... hope they keep it one game at a time and stay focused.. the coach will not let this team get comfortable like the Penguins did after the first victory... They will keep the underdog attitude and they will make it... Hope the Negladelphians keep their mouths shut and for all you *ssholes that like to make comments that are not about the Flyers that arent from Philly, stay in your caves because the Flyers are for real..— nixman101
- Most impressive thing? Flyers ability to patiently wait for their shots. Not forcing it. Not gripping the sticks too tight. This is a team in a nice groove. They are getting the key scoring from the guys who should put the puck in the net.— phillyfury
- Wow, The Philadelphia Flyers is the Cinderella team of the year. Good luck to them for reaching the Finals. P.S. The Phantoms Staff do suck for treating us loyal fans.— Robert88
- The storybook season continues...:) Couldn't ask for more...:) Balanced scoring, great defensive play and netminding...:) The Pens and the Caps don't have the "D" that the Flyers do. Great as this was, it is still only one game. The orange and black can't lose their focus, like the Bruins did. And the Habs have proven they can come back against a good team. Expect Montreal to play better on Tuesday night.— Ken_Spencer
- Good start, but they need to keep the same intensity. Halak isnt letting that happen again.— xMikelaw19
- Go Dayton!! I used to go to school there.., I've been a Big Flyers fan ever since non bring on Villanova!!— gosixers
- This team is amaaaaaaaazzzing... they keep this level of play up... they will win the Cup... hope they keep it one game at a time and stay focused.. the coach will not let this team get comfortable like the Penguins did after the first victory... They will keep the underdog attitude and they will make it... Hope the Negladelphians keep their mouths shut and for all you *ssholes that like to make comments that are not about the Flyers that arent from Philly, stay in your caves because the Flyers are for real..— nixman101
- One game dudes.....lighten up...We have been disappointed before. Let's see where they are after game 3.— Hatfield_ham
- I just heard rumblings that Carter will be back for Game 2 or 3 of this series, that would be awesome.— LukeSaw07
- Chasing Halak halfway thru the game was the most impressive thing.— BobbyD
- The next game should be the toughest as the Habs and their goalie wiil be determined. I predict the Flyers will be up to the challenge and win a one goal game. nixman101 said it best, Coach will not let the Flyers make the same mistake has Pitt.— ameadie
- 9 down, 7 to go— Snap Crackle Propp
- The most impressive thing was that they played aggressive fo a full 60 minutes..If they play this way the next 7 games you can make plans for grabbing a bite to eat in South Philly after the parade. Also, Leighton... 110 min. SO streak going. I think this might be incentive for the team to play gereat D in front of him.. It's all good.— dedhed
Now they we got rid of Brian "Day late Dollar Short" Boucher this team is rolling. This is what happens when you have real leadership. Much like how Kolb, a real All-American, will lead the eagles to glory and David "Mr. No Hitter" Herndon will lead us to multiple World Series titles.- It was one game! Don't be cocky. We need to bring more fight and grit in the 1st period of Game 2! Eventually the Flyers will have a bit of a let down. The human condition dictates that; it's in our DNA! GO FLYERS!!!— Flockey_Hockey
- NO WAY Montreal can bounce back from that beating. Put a fork in em.— greenflyer
- Ninety percent of the comments on here about the Flyers all year were negative. It's nice to see the bandwagon fans are alive and well. Don't hurt your ankles jumping off.— socalphillyguy
- socalphillyguy: The Flyers deserved the negative comments. They sucked. They FINALLY got a head coach. So stop with the mouth.— greenflyer
- Gosixers, class of 95. Nit champs and a disappointing season. They are loosing a lot but Chris Johnson should be the man— moosehunter
Comment removed.- So a long three games to go, but....Has a team ever gone to the Final having a three-goalie rotation? Forget about the fact that all of them have gotten hurt twice, we know that hasn't happened Cam Ward was the second-string goalie at the start of their season. The 1986 Canadiens had three goalies (Roy, Penney and Soetart) but Roy played 47 games and was clearly the guy when the playoffs started. Any fogies older than me who can think of some team that's had this kind of goalie chaos?— roadtriptoday
- Great hustle. Seemed like they had a stick on every loose puck. Keep up the pressure guys. Pronger was a rock.— hallux
- Anyone who expected this game tonight is lying through their teeth. Knocking out Halak was a total surprise to me. I thought the Flyers had a great chance of winning this series going in, but this is insane right now. No one in the league could beat the Flyers if they keep playing like they have for the last week. Halak will steal one from the Flyers this series. As long as they don't let him steal more than one, the Flyers will win this series, but I definitely don't want to see Game 7.— buttermilk67
- Montreal Gazette reporting that defenseman Andrei Markov will miss the entire series. They'd been hoping he might come back. He was their PP quarterback, the guy who Subban is replacing. It's a big loss for them, especially if Gill is less than 100%. Subban had a rough game tonight, looked like a rookie for the first time in the playoffs.— roadtriptoday
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- This was a great weekend not as great as Easter weekend when we traded McNabb but still good nonetheless. I don't think anything can top the sheer joy over this city and real fans when McNabb was shipped out of town and Kolb a real All-American was deemed the stat. It's good to see a team that is clutch like the Flyers and a QB who looks like us true blue Americans. Great days are ahead of us Philly now all we have to do is convince LeBron & Wade to come to Philly.
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- I don't know Lavi's contract status, but if it's up after next year (I'm pretty sure it's not up after this season), extension immediately. He is an example of how coaching makes a difference on a team. As for tonight's game, you are lying if you expected a rout like this. GREAT WIN TONIGHT BOYS!!!! KEEP IT GOING!! We all know Montreal has faced enough adversity in this playoffs not to get down after this game, so they will play better, and Halak will play better. Lavi will have the boys ready to go. Can't wait for Tuesday. Lonewolf, you're seriously smoking something good if you think the Sixers are ever going to join this party in the next five years. Eagles may do better under Kolb if he's anything like the two games he started, but the Sixers aren't going anywhere forward for awhile.— cnova000
- Nixman exactly. Hope too many people don't break their knees trying to hop on this bandwagon. This is for us true Flyers fans. Silence the critics. Rise to the top.— jtgallagher1
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- I believe Laviolette signed a 3-year contract with the Flyers. That would take him through 2012. It isn't a matter of picking up his contract from Carolina though.— buttermilk67
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Flyers on a real roll right now. Lots of confidence. We'll do our best to sweep this series so the Canadian fans don't loot and burn down the city.— delcodanno- Wolf whats all the BS about Kolb being a "true blue all american" WTF IS THAT SUPOSSED TO MEAN!! So are saying that McNabb was not somehow not a true blue American... He has only played a couple of games last year so dont get too ahead of yourself besides We are talkin about the Flyers on here.. the McNabb issue is done!!! Im glad that McNabb is gone too but when he was in his prime, he did a lot for the Eagles organization... and for God's sake leave the true blue American statement alone... it sounds assinine and down right disingenious when you compare McNabb to Kolb... GO Flyers!!!— nixman101
- What was most impressive about this win for me is that the Flyers didn't get seduced into thinking that they could afford to lose the first game of the series because hey, they came back from 0-3 in the series and 0-3 in game 7 and still prevailed. They know it's a lot easier to do the little things like keep home ice advantage by winning game 1.— vejjev
- nothing boring at all about this game. hope pronger continues the nasty streak. he's scary when he's got that chip on his shoulder. just great hustle all game long. loved all 60 minutes.— djack10
- fo fo fo!— deserteaglesnest.com
- Really only South Philly and South Jersey care about the Flyboys. Soooooooooo......... LETS GO PHILS!— Corey301
- Leighton is a beast. The D is playing amazing, the forwards are scoring again...this team is on a roll and not taking the Habs lightly. Remember back in Sept the Flyers were picked to win the Cup and we're well on our way even with our injuries. Flyers in 5 then on to the big one. Let's go Flyers!— Kanayd
- 100% perfect performance.... dont let up... next game more important!— EndTheDrought
- Great win but the goal is to play better on Tuesday. This is a good time to be a Flyer fan. Go Flyers.— LuckyDog
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- Montreal has not seen a team like this. Caps and penguins were ice dancers. Flyers are a smashmouth team that the Habs cannot handle.— hititwheretheyaint
