Rocket:

Do you remember the part in “The Wizard of Oz” when Toto pulls the curtain back and unveils the “great and powerful Oz”? Habs fans are wondering who will be the one to expose the true Marty Biron and Philadelphia Flyers. So far, the Flyers aren’t doing much right except winning and the Canadiens are making Biron look like a star goaltender.

Tonight, the Habs beat Biron three times in the first period but their shots found the post. Many of Biron’s saves were routine as the Canadiens had no one screening in front of the net. It seems that Koivu and Higgins are the only ones who consistently go to the crease.

Tomorrow will be an interesting day as neurotic Habs fans come out of the woodwork to be critical of Carey Price. Let’s put an end to that myth. Poor defensive coverage, giveaways and screened shots were the reasons for the 3 Philly goals. Bringing Jaroslav Halak in the third period was a way of motivating the team. After the game, Carbonneau said “I felt like we needed another goalie in the net in the third period. Jaro played well.” Let’s hope that was just emotion talking. No disrespect to Halak as he made one nice save on Thoresen but he only faced 2 shots (Canadiens outshot Flyers 17-2). Price will be the starter in game #4, and beyond.

Defensive zone coverage by the Canadiens was abysmal. Mike Komisarek had a few rough shifts. The Canadiens normally best shot-blocker had a Philly shot deflect off his leg into the net. MK also coughed up the puck behind the net that led to the Flyers third goal.

Carbonneau correctly pointed out that his power-play, especially his “5 best players” on the 5 on 3, should share the burden of the loss. Coach Carbo added “I’ll take some of the blame.” As he should!

The consensus after the first two games was that 3 lines were playing well but one, the Lapierre line, wasn’t contributing. So, after Carbonneau’s tinkering, the Habs had two lines that were impotent tonight. Lapierre played slightly better but was still mostly invisible. Steve Begin, was less effective due to playing on the 4th line and having his ice-time reduced. Guillaume Latendresse had a few moments (especially on the Canadiens first goal) but didn’t mesh well with Smolinski and Kostopoulos.

By the third period, the experiment was abandoned and Begin was back to playing with Smoke and Kosto. On his first shift with them he had a scoring chance in front of Biron. As I mentioned before the game, Carbonneau should not have broken up his most consistent line of the playoffs.

The power-play also is due some criticism tonight. The failure on the 5 on 3 was a turning point in the game. I recognize that the Canadiens did get 2 PP goals to get back into the game during the Hatcher penalty. But even, during that power-play, they did not have one shot for the first two minutes. They had difficulty setting up in the Flyers zone all night long. The Habs spent most of the time skating the length of the ice to retrieve the puck. The Flyers were winning all of the battles for the puck. The Canadiens could not play their puck possession game. The power-play also gave up a short-handed goal to the Flyers.

If there is one player who should shoulder most of the blame for tonight’s loss, it is Alex Kovalev. Habster correctly described Kovalev’s play as disinterested. I would go further as it appeared that he was playing like a pouting child. He was in a snit! Kovalev was playing at half speed and spent a lot of time stationary or coasting. His passes were not crisp and he either fanned on his shots or they were wildly wide.

The Flyers have a reputation as a dirty team…a well deserved reputation as it turns out. Hatcher’s hit on Bouillon was way over the line and very stupid. He got a major penalty and a misconduct, and if Carbonneau has his way, a suspension. Stevens continued his whining and used the “too tall” defense. Kostopoulos was elbowed in the face in the second period which was not called. There was another obvious non-call when Mike Richards swatted the mask of Halak while he skated through the crease in the third. Referees Joannette and Watson did a better job of limiting scrums but their penalty calling was inconsistent. The too-many-men penalty on the Canadiens at the end of the third was brutal.

Pregame:

The league instructed the teams that Mark Joannette and Brad Watson will crack down on post whistle scrums.

Riley Cote and Steve Downie ‘chatted’ across the red line during the warm-up with Tom Kostopoulos and Max Lapierre.

Daniel Briere delivered a pre-anthem message of mutual respect via the scoreboard. It didn’t work as there was booing during the Canadian anthem. Lauren Hart did a duet with a tape of Kate Smith singing ‘God Bless America’.

Rocket’s 3 stars:

1. R.J. Umberger
2. Saku Koivu
3. Martin Biron

(photo credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)