The Montreal Canadiens had a sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers this weekend, taking game two of the back and back series 5-3, handing the stumbling Flyers their seventh loss in a row. The second win in a row for Carey Price over the Flyers as well, Price was a standout on Saturday night when he earned a 1-0 shut out over Philadelphia.
The Habs on the strength of their recent victories have now climbed to the top of the Eastern Conference standings, sharing first place with the Ottawa Senators, though the Sens still have two games in hand, not that they've been particularly good at taking advantage of games lately.
The Flyers are a complete polar opposite from the Habs at the moment, they have tumbled from first place to seventh in the last number of weeks, a fall that has them flirting with playoff elimination now, only a few weeks ago many were talking of the Flyers as the team on the rise in the East and a possible surprise finisher in this regular season.
The Flyers willingness to drop the gloves of late, played a key role in the loss. As a mental mistake allowed the Candiens Francis Bouillon to put the Habs ahead 2-1 late in the first, on what amounted to a breakaway as the Flyers stood around and waited for a fight to break out.
Losing to Montreal is becoming a common occurrence for the Flyers, they have dropped six consecutive games to the Habs last recording a victory back in November of 2006.
Flyers head coach closed the door to the dressing room following Sunday nights game, anxious to try and get to the root of what is becoming a huge problem in Philadelphia, an inability to fight through the tough patches and pick up some much needed wins.
Desperation was the word floating around the rink on Sunday, as a free fall continues with seemingly little that can be done to slow it down.
.Globe and Mail--Canadiens complete weekend sweep of Flyers
National Post--Canadiens tie Senators atop the East
Philly.com--Montreal punishes the Flyers
Montreal Gazette--Just call them the Beasts of the East
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Photo from Canwest/National Post website
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