Friday, April 25, 2008

Canadiens second efforts, leave Flyers second best


The Montreal Canadiens pulled ahead for the only time on Thursday night, when Tom Kostopoulos picked up his own rebound and fired the Canadiens fourth goal of the night behind Martin Biron.

The goal forty eight seconds into the first overtime provided Montreal with their game one victory and one to none lead in their best of seven series with the Philadelphia Flyers. It capped a hard fought comeback by Montreal, who frequently found themselves frustrated by the Flyers during regulation time.

Philadelphia jumped into a quick 2-0 lead in the first period, controlling the flow of play and silencing the Bell Centre crowd as they quickly found the mark on Carey Price, briefly rattled in the early going, Price settled down from that point on and would let only one more goal in behind him.

The Habs then began their comeback process, gaining two goals in the second period, and the third tying goal with less than thirty seconds on the clock in the third, when Alexei Kovalev fired in the goal, his second of the night, to send the game into overtime.

From there the Canadiens came out fast in the first overtime frame, taking the play deep into the Philadelphia end, digging in the corners to keep it moving and then taking advantage of Kostopoulos’ second effort to put away the Flyers in game one.

The momentum shift from the last stages of period three had carried over into the Overtime and the Flyers couldn’t hold off the attack until they could settle things down. Unable to clear the puck from their end, Philadelphia instead watched as a potentially tough earned road victory slipped away from their grasp.

The message however will remain with Montreal for the rest of the series now, yet another team which offered little to no resistance in the regular season, is ready to up the intensity and effort in the playoffs, with a few bounces the Flyers may find a different result should they keep that same effort in place for the rest of the series.
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Montreal Gazette-- Habs steal opener
Philadelphia Inquirer-- French toast
Philadelphia Inquirer-- In a blur, Flyers lost to Canadiens
Philadelphia Inquirer-- Flyers fall to Canadiens in OT
Philadelphia Daily News-- Flyers-Canadiens recap
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NHL.com-- Stats Pack

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