Live Blogging: Flyers 3 Canadiens 2 (game #3)

Habster:
1st PERIOD:

• The Marty Biron’s post count is at 3 and counting for game #3!!! (5 if you go back to game #2)…..talk about a horse shoe up the ass or should I say goal post up the ass!!!
• Speaking of Biron, he made a nice snow angel save on Saku Koivu’s break away. Biron must of went to the Dominic Hasek school of goaltending.
• Habs have a 3 on 5 PP situation but are getting too fancy and treating the puck like a hot potato…..give Mike Richards credit for some terrific work on the PK and faceoffs.
• The Habs are carrying the play to the Flyers even before the powerplay opportunities but the Canadiens need to score on the PP.

• Alex Kovalev looks slightly disinterested tonight and has made a couple of bad giveaways.

2Nnd PERIOD:

• Habs do some great work on the PK for the first powerplay chance in the 2nd period for the Flyers.
• I love the physicality of Ryan O’Byrne’s play tonight, he’s keeping things simply but solid with Roman Hamrlik. Carbonneau needs to increase O’Byrne’s ice time for him to get into a playing groove.
• Flyers score….Upshall wrist’s a shot pass the blocker side of Carey Price who was badly screened by Hamrlik…..1-0 Flyers.
• Canadiens come back with two solid shifts after the Upshall goal……very important!!!
• Habs have to stop forcing the puck to the slot area as the Fyers are taking the area away or simply blocking shots.
• The Flyers are blocking a lot shots tonight…….damn!!
• Biron and his posts are in fine form again tonight. A confident, hot goalie is a very dangerous thing in a playoff series especially when your team isn’t playing particularly well in front of him.
• Habs need to get more traffic in front of Biron as he is having an easy time seeing every shot on net.
• Habs get their 4th powerplay chance of the night…..get Latendresse in front of the net to screen Biron.
• Umberger and Carter are killing the PP and getting better scoring chances than the Habs.
• 2-0 Flyers…..Speak of the devil……Richards scores a shorthanded goal that Price should have caught. It looked like it may have hit Komisarek’s leg before beating Price. Anyhow, the puck hit his trapper glove and went into the net……..Carbo looked in Halak’s direction for a moment……next goal and Price might get the hook!!!
• Simply put…..the Flyers are getting good goaltending while the Habs aren’t!!
• Flyers score again 3-0……Komisarek coughed up the puck behind the net to Jeff Carter who does a wrap around which Price saves but he gives up a huge rebound and Umberger (of all people!!!) buries it behind Price…..another high shot!!!……3 goals on 12 shots!!
• Mike Richards is playing a helluva game at both ends of the ice. The Flyers made a great decision to sign him to a huge, long term deal this season

2nd Intermission:

Both Kostitsyns, Komisarek, Hamrlik and Plekanec are all -2 after two periods.

We’ll see if Carbonneau puts Jaroslav Halak in net for the third period to give Carey Price some time to reflect and watch the game from the bench. I’m not saying this to be mean or indifferent towards Carey Price , just simply saying that he needs a chance to catch his breath.

3rd PERIOD:

• Halak is starting the 3rd period
• The Flyers are starting to take liberties with their physical play and the game could get a bit ugly in the third period.
• Halak makes a solid save on Thorsen with his right pad coming across the crease.
• It’s starting to get ugly with Hatcher hitting Bouillon from behind, hitting his head into the boards……Hatcher is rightfully given a 5 minute penalty for boarding and a game misconduct. Umberger is tripped up by Plekanec and hits the boards. He is assisted off the ice with what appears to be a leg injury…….could be a huge loss for the Flyers if he is lost for an extended period of time.
• Huge opportunity for the Habs to get back into this game thanks to Hatcher.
• Habs score 3-1…….Plekanec stuffs the puck under Biron’s pad and it sits on the goal line until Andrei Kostitsyn pokes it in………..still a goal after TO review. Net only came off after puck crossed the goal line!!!
• Habs score again 3-2………finally someone (Koivu) stands in front of the net and screens Biron……he gets control of the puck on the rebounds and pots it behind Biron………we have a game now!!!
• Wow….Habs are finally picking up their game and flying around, totally dominating the Flyers defense which are short a defenseman……..great scoring chances by Koivu and Streit. They need to tire out the Flyers defense by cycling the puck down low!!
• Flyers get another penalty………GO HABS GO!!!
• Great news for the Flyers as Umberger is back on the ice and looks to be skating without any difficulties.
• Canadiens have to get traffic in front of Biron again and get shots on net and forget the fancy cross ice passes…..both Canadiens goals were the result of shooting the puck on the net with traffic in front of Biron.
• You’ve got to be kidding me……….pretty cheap penalty call for too many men on the ice…….the Habs player was within 8′-10′ of the bench………a makeup call!!!!
• Habs kill off penalty but a costly icing gives up real estate in the process.
• Total pressure in the Flyers zone in the final minute of the period with numerous chances to tie the game but they come up short, Flyers win 3-2……..Flyers are fortunate to have a 2-1 lead.

In the end, the Habs outshot the Flyers 34-14 thanks partly to the five minute major to Hatcher but prior to the penalty, they were in the Flyers zone most of the night. The Flyers were fortunate that the Canadiens were giving easy entry into their zone with the defense backing in too quickly on the Mike Richard’s and Scottie Upshall’s goals.

The Canadiens have out played the Flyers by a large margin the last two games and have nothing to show for it. They are probably extremely frustrated by the loses but need to continue their dominance by playing as hard and getting Carey Price or Jaroslav Halak into a zone with more confidence like Martin Biron presently has.

The Canadiens just need to remain composed and continue working hard as the scoring chance are there but they need to get more traffic in front of Biron and shot the puck on net!!!

They also have to stop the Umberger/Carter/Upshall line who have been the Flyers best line thus far.

The Canadiens also need better performances from key players like Alex Kovalev (TOI: 25:23 and -1 with 1 shot on net), Sergei Kostitsyn (A-1, -2 and 0 Shots), Tomas Plekanec (G-1, 2 shots and -2) and Andrei Kostitsyn (1 shot on net and -2). They need better goaltending from Carey Price who couldn’t be faulted for two goals but certainly needs to be better than 3 goals on 14 shots. Carbonneau shouldn’t make any rash, knee jerk reaction with Price who should get the start for game #3.

I’m going to pull a Mark Messier and boldly state that the Canadiens will win Game #4. The only difference is that I can’t go onto the ice and score a hat trick like Messier did when he made the bold prediction before game #6 against the New Jersey Devils. The Devils were leading the Eastern conference final series 3-2 at the time. The Messier led Rangers beat the Devils and went on to win the 1994 Stanley Cup with a young Alex Kovalev playing a large role in the championship (21 points in 23 games).

Fourteen years later, the Canadiens need Alex Kovalev to step up and take a leadership role like he did throughout the regular season and in 1994. Saku Koivu has done his part thus far in the playoffs, now it’s Kovalev’s turn to help out!!!