 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
There were no Secret Service men in the building. No bomb-sniffing dogs. No blaring music covering the cheers and boos generated by a vice presidential candidate.
Instead of the political circus that overshadowed the Flyers' opener, hockey was the focus - OK, there was a little baseball in the mix - at the Wachovia Center tonight.
For the Flyers, that turned out to be not such a good thing. Roman Hamrlik and Mike Komisarek scored goals 44 seconds apart in the first 2:02 of the final period, erasing a 2-1 deficit and helping the Montreal Canadiens outlast the Flyers, 5-3.
Earlier, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards scored second-period goals 1 minute and 29 seconds apart to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.
In last year's Eastern Conference semifinals, there were two simple reasons why the Flyers stunned the heavily favored Canadiens:
Flyers goalie Marty Biron looked like the second coming of Bernie Parent.
Montreal goalie Carey Price looked intimidated by the playoff glare, which was understandable when you consider he was only 20 years old.
In the first period, Biron and the Flyers looked much sharper than in their opener against the Rangers, when the goalie was removed after the club fell behind, 4-0, late in the opening period.
The Flyers held a 14-8 edge in shots in the scoreless first period, but their power play continued to struggle. They managed just three shots - none that forced Price to make a difficult save - during a five-on-three advantage that lasted for 1 minute, 31 seconds.
Montreal struck first in the opening minute of the second period. The Canadiens' Andrei Kostitsyn checked Mike Richards near the blue line and the puck went to defenseman Andrei Markov, who promptly fed Kostitsyn at the top of the right circle. The winger beat Biron to the short side after 54 seconds of the second period.
The Flyers responded quickly. Scottie Upshall skated over the blue line and dropped a pass to Jeff Carter, whose shot from the top of the left circle whizzed past Price at 2:46.
About 11/2 minutes later, Briere skated to the left circle and cleverly found Richards creeping in from the point. Richards' shot, with Simon Gagne causing havoc in front, went just inside the right post and gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead.
Richards goal snapped an 0-for-8 power-play drought for the Flyers in the young season.
Briere nearly made it 3-1 when he tried a wraparound with 12:51 left in the second period. Price smothered the puck as he tumbled partially inside the net. The play was reviewed and it was determined that the puck did not cross the goal line.
Don Rickles used to joke that he went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.
Tonight, a baseball game broke out at the Wachovia Center. The scoreboard kept showing highlights when the Phillies scored a run at Dodger Stadium, triggering loud roars and chants of "Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!"
The Flyers, not wanting to start 0-2 at home before going on the road for three tough games, nearly made it 3-1 but Mike Knuble, in front of the net, fired wide on a power-play opportunity with a little under eight minutes left in the second period.
A few minutes later, Montreal's Robert Lang rifled a shot off the right post.
With 4:38 left in the period, Biron made his best save of the night, robbing Alex Kovalev.
Montreal used a beautiful three-way pass play that ended with Hamrlik tipping in a pass from Kovalev, tying the score at 2-2 after 1:18 of the final period.
Forty-four seconds later, Komisarek scored on a long blast that appeared to deflect off the Flyers' Upshall.
Lang and Simon Gagne (power play) traded goals later in the period.
|
|
|
|
|
|
REGIONAL SCOREBOARD
Latest Sports Blogs
TOP STORIES
Green
email this
print this
reprint or license this
