Habster:
Give credit to Guy Carbonneau for defending Tom Kostopoulos’ minor indiscretion. Thanks to whining Flyers coach John Stevens, the whole situation has been totally blown out of proportion.
Tom Kostopoulos is a fiercely competitive player and was rightfully pissed off by the Flyers taunting (especially Umberger and Timonen) him and his teammates after the Flyers fourth goal. The game was pretty much out of reach after that goal so the Flyers should have just gone to their bench to celebrate with their teammates…….show more class!!!
For Stevens to go out of his way to make an issue of such a minor thing during his post game press conference is silly and absolutely bizarre. What he should have addressed during his press conference was the lack of intensity his team displayed in game #2. He should have also mentioned how lucky his team was to leave Montreal with a victory after being dominated by the Canadiens in game #2.
He should have counted his luck stars that Martin Biron stood on his head making 34 saves otherwise it could have easily been a blowout for the Canadiens. If the Habs would have received half decent goaltending from Carey Price or players had potted their scoring chances (or hitting the net with their shots!!!!), then the outcome would have been a lot different.
The absolute hypocrisy of the whining Flyers and Stevens to make issue of a minor after goal scrum is laughable especially after their suspension filled season (by far the most suspensed team in the NHL….52 games!!!). As Carbonneau stated: “That (the Flyers) is one team that shouldn’t talk. Over 82 games, they had the most suspensions in the league.”
Maybe Stevens is trying to light a fire under his team by making issue with the incident but it could also back fire and motive the Canadiens……time will tell won’t it.