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Instead of the political circus that overshadowed the Flyers' opener, hockey was the focus - OK, there was a little of baseball in the mix - at the Wachovia Center last night.
For the Flyers, that turned out to be not such a good thing.
Roman Hamrlik and Mike Komisarek scored 44 seconds apart in the first 2 minutes, 2 seconds of the final period, erasing a 2-1 deficit and helping the Montreal Canadiens outlast the Flyers, 5-3, before 19,323 fans.
"It's a small victory in a marathon of the season," said Komisarek, whose team was eliminated by the heavy-underdog Flyers in last season's Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Flyers, whose fate was sealed on an empty-net goal by Steve Begin with 35 seconds left, are 0-2 and, amazingly, are already 10 points behind the New York Rangers (5-0) in the Atlantic Division.
"We did a lot of good things in the first 40 minutes and got ourselves in a pretty good position," Flyers coach John Stevens said.
But the Flyers had breakdowns early in the third period and it cost them the lead and, ultimately, the game.
Montreal used a beautiful three-way, tic-tac-toe pass play that ended with Hamrlik tipping in a feed from Alex Kovalev, tying the score at 2 after 1:18 of the final period. Forty-four seconds later, Komisarek scored on a long blast that deflected off the stick of the Flyers' Scottie Upshall.
"I didn't have my body in line and my instinct was to try to knock it down," Upshall said. "It was just an unlucky break. I told Marty [Biron], 'Sorry buddy.' "
Stevens was particularly upset with Hamrlik's goal, saying the team had reviewed video of the exact play before the game. "We're just not paying attention to details on the defensive side of the puck," he said.
The Flyers, who won six of their first seven games last year, begin a three-game road trip tonight against Stanley Cup finalist Pittsburgh. They also play in Colorado and San Jose. "The road trip is huge for us," center Mike Richards said. "We have to start building our confidence somewhere and hopefully outwork teams."
Jeff Carter and Richards scored second-period goals 1:29 apart to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.
Richards' goal snapped an 0-for-8 power-play drought for the Flyers in the young season.
Danny Briere nearly made it 3-1 when he tried a wraparound with 12:51 left in the second period. Goalie Carey Price, who struggled mightily against the Flyers in last season's playoffs, smothered the puck as he tumbled partially inside the net. The play was reviewed and it was determined the puck did not cross the goal line.
Rodney Dangerfield used to joke that he went to a fight and a hockey game broke out. Last night, 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.!"
Perhaps inspired, Biron made his best save of the night, robbing Kovalev with a glove stop after the right winger's rebound shot appeared ticketed to the right corner late in the second period.
Biron could be faulted for only one of the three goals he allowed in last night's third period; he surrendered a bad rebound to Robert Lang, whose goal made it 4-2 with 6:20 left. Lang (second goal) and Simon Gagne (power play) traded goals later in the period before the empty-netter iced it.
"It's difficult to start the season 0-2, especially when you start at home," said Gagne, who has two goals and said he has no ill effects from last season's concussion.
Tonight, backup goalie Antero Niittymaki will get the start in place of Biron, Stevens said.
See more photos from last night's NLCS Game 4 at http://go.philly.com/photos.
Read Todd Zolecki's Phillies blog, The Phillies Zone, at http://go.philly.com/pzone.
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