As the dust settled on Game 3 and that 5-1 beating that the Canadiens put on the Flyers, there were some questions floating around. Could Montreal keep up the momentum, now that they had finally scored a goal in the series? Would the Flyers be able to bounce back after losing their six game winning streak? How would Michael Leighton fare in his second biggest game in the playoffs? Who would be coming back from injury for the Flyers? Today, all of those questions were answered, and then some. Both Jeff Carter and Ian Laperriere returned from injury, and while both played well, it was the defense and Claude Giroux that did the heavy work today, with Giroux scoring twice and the defense keeping Leighton from having to do much in a 3-0 victory for Philadelphia.
For the first time since Game 1, the Flyers looked totally in control of Montreal. The Canadiens managed just 17 shots on goal, compared to 25 for Philadelphia, and the Flyers won 20 more shutouts than the Canadiens did. Even though the first period ended without a score, there was an air to the game that the Flyers were going to score soon, and they did just that. Claude Giroux scored five minutes into the second period to give Philadelphia the lead, and the game was in the hands of the Flyers from there. The defense was incredible, allowing Montreal to only get one shot on goal during the second period while the Flyers would score twice. Chris Pronger bounced back from his poor showing in Game 3 and found Ville Leino with an excellent pass that Leino took into the Montreal zone to score the second goal of the period. It's still amazing that the Flyers got Leino for nothing more than a song from Detroit at the trade deadline. If this run continues for Philadelphia, that trade, and subsequent playing of Leino in the playoffs, is going to loom large.
The third period was more of the same from the Flyers today. The defense continued to choke the Canadiens when they had chances in the Philadelphia zone, and the Flyers tried to build on their lead, but couldn't take advantage of many chances until the Canadiens pulled Jaroslav Halak. It was then that Claude Giroux scored his second goal of the game and his eighth of the playoffs on an empty-netter that put the game out of reach. For the third time in this series, the Flyers had worked a shutout against Montreal, and that might be the most amazing part about this entire series at the moment. Aside from Game 3, the Canadiens have been outscored by Philadelphia by a 12-0 margin. Michael Leighton has all three shutouts, and while the credit for the first two can be given to him, this one should be placed on the defense more than anything else.
Today, the Philadelphia defense was excellent. Matt Carle, Chris Pronger, Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen were at their best today, just dominating the Canadiens when they brought the puck into the Philadelphia zone. When you can hold a team to just a single shot in a period, then you're doing something right. That's what the Flyers did today, and they held Montreal to just 17 shots in the entire game. After the offensive storm that the Flyers had to face in Game 3, coming out and playing defense like they did today sent a clear message back to Montreal. The Canadiens dominated Game 3, and this game was going to be key in how the rest of the series was going to go. The Flyers took the beating that they dealt with the last time they hit the ice and just showed that the poor play from Friday night wasn't going to happen again. Chris Pronger was much better, and the team as a whole looked much, much better than they did in the previous game. After taking a four goal loss in Game 3, this was possibly the best game that the Flyers could have played. Now, they hold all the cards going back to Game 5 in Philadelphia.
This series isn't over yet though, not by a long shot. The Canadiens came back against Washington in the first round of the playoffs after being down 3-1, and they came back against Pittsburgh after being down 3-2. However, the Flyers seem to having something going for them that both of those teams did not. They have all the momentum, having come back from being down 3-0 against the Boston Bruins, and the physical play that they're throwing at Montreal seems to be too much for them at the moment. The Canadiens have played over 100 games this season, and that's going to start to take its toll. In the three losses that the Flyers have handed the Canadiens, Montreal has looked like the slower team, and Philadelphia has taken advantage of that. If they can play like they have in any one of their three wins, then this series will be over in five games.
Ten years ago, the Flyers had a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. That was the last time that they were this close to the Stanley Cup Finals. They then lost the next three games against the New Jersey Devils for one of the worst moments of the last decade. Now, they have a chance to undo a little bit of history. I really don't think that it's going to happen again, but you never know. This team though...it just feels different. Jeff Carter and Ian Laperriere are both back, and it seems like everything is coming together at the right time. Game 5 is Monday night, back in Philadelphia. We'll see what happens then.
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