Somehow, this improbable run for the Philadelphia Flyers is going to continue. Tonight, the Flyers punched their ticket to Chicago for the Stanley Cup Finals with a 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens, earning their first Finals appearance in 13 seasons.. Just as it has been through the entire playoffs, the Flyers played with a grit and toughness that allowed them to overcome a shaky start and and keep going in the playoffs.
Things didn't start out that well for the Flyers tonight. Chris Pronger had a pass intercepted by Montreal in the first minute of the game that turned into a goal by Brian Gionta that put the Canadiens up 1-0 just 59 seconds in. It wouldn't take long for the Flyers to answer back, though. With Montreal on the power play, Claude Giroux's pass sent Mike Richards loose on a breakaway, and he plowed through Jaroslav Halak, who decided to skate up to play the puck. Richards fell down, but got back up, found the puck and put it in the back of the net to tie the game. Even though it was just five minutes into the game, that was the turning point for the Flyers. Throughout their series with Montreal, the Flyers had to withstand the first ten minutes of every game. If they could survive, or even take the lead against the Canadiens, then they were fine. Tonight was no exception. With Richards making plays like he did in the first period, the Flyers took control of the game.
They would put the Canadiens on the ropes with a flurry early in the second period. First, Arron Asham showed some great puck handling and got the puck past Halak to give the Flyers their first lead of the game just three and a half minutes into the second. Less than 90 seconds later, Jeff Carter scored his first goal after returning from injury, getting a nice feed from Mike Richards, and Philadelphia had a 3-1 lead. From there, it was just a matter of keeping Montreal from scoring twice, and the Flyers were able to do that. Chris Pronger and Kimo Timonen were excellent once again, shutting down Montreal's attack after the first 60 seconds, and Michael Leighton was on top of his game again. Even though the Canadiens would score midway through the third period to cut the lead to one, they wouldn't find the net again. The defense and Leighton did everything that had to be done, keeping Montreal from mounting much of an offensive attack for the rest of the game. When Mike Richards was able to find Jeff Carter for an empty net goal with 22 seconds to play, the celebration was on. For the first time in 13 years, the Philadelphia Flyers are headed to the Stanley Cup Finals.
This entire series against Montreal was built upon the fact that the Flyers are a physical team that can also play the quicker style of the higher level NHL teams. That was never more clear that against the Canadiens. The Flyers skated right past Montreal, and then were able to out-muscle them when they had to. With Chris Pronger and Kimo Timonen on defense, the Flyers have two excellent defenders to help protect Michael Leighton, and both can also help spring odd man rushes with their passing skills. Coming into the Eastern Conference Finals, Mike Cammalleri was the hottest player in the playoffs. He left the series against the Flyers with one goal and no assists. For a man that came into the series with 18 points, having one in five games is a telling sign of how well the Flyers played on defense the entire five games that the Eastern Conference Finals went on.
There's also the play of Michael Leighton, who pitched three shutouts against a Montreal team that had been shut out once in their previous 14 playoff games. Ever since he came in for an injured Brian Boucher, Leighton is 6-1 and has looked every bit like the goalie that helped save Philadelphia's season while he played during the regular season. While Brian Boucher was excellent against New Jersey, Leighton has been even better against Boston and Montreal, and one can argue that the Flyers wouldn't have made this run to the Stanley Cup Finals without him in net. Aside for one bad game against the Canadiens, Leighton has been a brick wall for the Flyers, stopping most chances that the Canadiens and Bruins have had against him. For a goalie that Philadelphia picked up as a castaway from Nashville, did anyone expect this from Leighton this year? I have no idea how he's playing this well, but I'm not going to complain.
There's not enough to say about Mike Richards right now. The captain was on top of his game tonight, scoring the first goal on a shorthanded breakaway and assisting on both of Jeff Carter's tallies tonight. For this entire run, Richards has shown why he should be the captain of this team. He brings skill and leadership to the Flyers, and he's the heartbeat of this team. Without him, I don't want to know where these guys would be, but that doesn't matter right now. He's playing on a different level, as is Danny Briere, Claude Giroux, Simon Gagne and even Jeff Carter, who looks great, considering he just came back from a broken foot. For the first time in a long time, the Flyers are about as healthy as they were when the season started, and that's a good thing.
Now, it comes down to this. On Saturday, the Flyers will play their first Stanley Cup Final game in 13 years against the Chicago Blackhawks. I'm not going to lie; the Blackhawks are a great, great team that have a lot of things going for them right now. Chicago hasn't made it to the Stanley Cup Finals since 1992, and they haven't won a Cup since 1961. However, it's been 35 years since the Flyers won the Stanley Cup, and they haven't even won a Stanley Cup Finals game since 1987. Things seem to be falling into position for both teams at the moment, and there's going to be calls for both sides to win, but I'm not going there yet. A preview will be up later on this week, but for the time being, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy this.
The Philadelphia Flyers are in the Stanley Cup Finals...after everything that this team went through, would you believe it?
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