Biron Denies Habs Again! Flyers Win!

Martin Biron stopped 36 of 38 shots and RJ Umberger contributed 2 more goals as the Flyers downed the Habs by a score of 4 - 2 in Game 4 of their best-of-seven series. The Flyers now lead the series 3 games to 1 and can end the series on Saturday in La Belle Provence.

There was a huge surprise revealed before the game as the Canadiens chose to start rookie Jaroslav Halak in goal over rookie franchise goalie Carey Price. I have to think Price is hurt, because the Habs put all of their eggs in Price's basket when they traded away Cristobal Huet.

This game closely resembled the last couple of games, with Montreal maintaining territorial control of the ice, only to have Biron turn them aside time and time again. The first period was completely dominated by Martin Biron, who stopped 14 shots in the period. Halak was tested early, on a Jeff Carter breakaway, which he turned aside rather confidently.

The second period began much the same way as the first, but after Umberger scored on the power play for the 1 - 0 lead, the Canadiens seemed to sag and you could make a credible argument that the Flyers established themselves much better in the Montreal zone.

The third period was played fairly evenly and the Flyers increased their lead to 2 - 0, when Scott Hartnell rammed home a rebound off of a Vinny Prospal shot that hit the intersection of the post and the crossbar. It was Hartnell's first goal in what seemed like forever.

With about 7 minutes left to play, Marty Biron's luck changed for the worse. A shot from the point was deflected past Biron by Derian Hatcher to cut the Flyer lead to 1 and just 37 seconds later, Saku Koivu potted the tying goal. Instead of playing tentatively, the Flyers picked up the pace and eventually, earned a power play in the form of a stupid interference penalty taken by Steve Begin.

Danny Briere made Montreal pay by scoring on the power play on one of those goals from the side of the net, where he elevates the puck in a tight space past the goalie. You know the type of goal....the type he scored against the Flyers like a billion times over the course of the past couple years when he was with Buffalo. The Flyers made that goal standup and eventually, RJ Umberger added an empty netter to put the icing on the cake.

You have to hope that the Flyers learned from the Washington series and will put all of their effort into finishing this series in Game 5 in Montreal this Saturday.

Did you notice?

- Mike Knuble returned and looked like he didn't miss a beat. So much for catching up to the pace of the game.

- Good to see Vinny Prospal show up tonite....2 assists for Prospal and that line had a little more energy tonite than earlier in the series.

- Mike Richards pasted one of the Kostitsyn brothers behind their own net in the 3rd period?

- Derian Hatcher looks pig-dog slow out on the ice and it especially showed in the 37 second stretch where Montreal scored their two goals. Like Jason Smith in the last series, Derian Hatcher is not helping this team right now.

- Anyone catch that cool picture of Jim Dowd that was shown during the Flyer broadcast that showed a team picture where every player picture was Dowd in one of the 10 or so uniforms he's worn in his NHL career? Dug around on the net for the picture, but couldn't find it. If I can post it, I'll will.....just like if I can find the Dave Mustaine vid.

- Alexei Kovalev stick his leg out and cause a knee-on-knee collision on RJ Umberger that went uncalled in the 3rd?

Flyers Lose Opener to Habs

Sometimes all it takes is a couple of bad breaks, a bad call or two, and before you know it, you've got some adversity to overcome that is not of your own doing.

The Flyers lost an eminently winnable game in La Belle Provence against the Canadiens by a score of 4 - 3 in a game that had to be decided in OT. This was definitely a squandered opportunity, where a couple of questionable calls by the on and off-ice officials definitely played a role in the outcome.

The game started well enough for the Flyers as they grabbed a 2 - 0 lead after the first period on the strength of goals by Jim Dowd and a fluky goal credited to RJ Umberger. The Dowd goal was especially sweet, because it came from the fourth line, which might have been the Flyers' best line all night.

The second period saw the Canadiens warm to the task as they got both goals back to tie the game. The first goal was the result of a horrid neutral zone giveaway by Jeff Carter and a lucky bounce that Andrei Kostitsyn was able to make count. Just before that goal, Kostitsyn was stopped on a penalty shot on a fantastic pad save by Martin Biron, whom I felt played well in defeat.

The second Canadien goal was somewhat controversial in that Alexei Kovalev used a high stick to tap in a goal that was already going into the net and should have never counted. Somehow, the replay officials could not see what everyone else saw in that Kovalev's stick was higher than the cross bar when he made contact with the puck. Furthermore, Kovalev's downward followthrough actually hits the crossbar, confirming that his stick was, in fact, too high. Apparently, the laws of physics do not apply in Canada. Nonetheless, the goal counted. It probably would have gone in anyway and as a Flyers fan, it annoyed me because the Flyers had the power play at the time and to passively allow Montreal to get a shorthanded rush in that situation was simply unacceptable.

The third period opened the right way if you're a Flyers fan. Joffrey Lupul had a puck go in off of his skate to open up a 3 - 2 lead. This is two straight games Lupul has scored in and you hope this is one of those goal scoring streaks we've seen Lupul go through during the regular season, because the Flyers need that go-to guy offensively right now.

I felt that the Flyers were doing a pretty decent job of holding down the fort in the 3rd period and even challenging at times for that 4th goal to salt the game away.

With little over a minute to go, Mike Richards took out Alexei Kovalev on a nice shoulder check that closely resembled a trip because of the way Kovalev fell to the ice. The referee believed that Richards put out his knee to hit Kovalev, but replays conclusively show that Richards' lower body never made contact with Kovalev and that Richards hit Kovalev with a clean shoulder check. This gave Montreal a power play in the last minute of play and, with their goaltender pulled, gave the Habs a 6 on 4 power play.

About 15 seconds later, the Flyers had a defensive zone draw with Jeff Carter facing off against Saku Koivu. Carter had been getting his ass kicked in the face off circle all night and he ended the night winning only 5 of 18 faceoffs. Conversely, Koivu was owning the Flyers in the face off circle, winning 17 of 24. You could almost guess what was going to happen.

Carter went on to lose the face off, breaking his stick in the process. He layed on the ice sprawled out next to the loose puck when Alexei Kovalev collected the puck, and deposited it over Martin Biron's left shoulder to tie the game.

The whole sequence of events was sickening and the game went to overtime, where noted alleged purse thief accomplice and alleged troublemaker Tom Kostopoulos ended the game just 48 seconds into overtime. It almost seemed anti-climactic.

Game 2 is on Saturday at 7pm.

Did you notice?

- Derian Hatcher's bone crunching check on one of the Kostitsyn brothers behind the Flyers' net? I thought Hatcher was going to end that kid's life on that hit.

- Martin Biron stacking the pads towards the end of the first period to maintain the Flyers' 2 - 0 lead? Biron was real good in the first period, but should have had the shorthanded goal that should have never counted.

- Steve Downie played pretty well in his fourth line role. Playing Downie instead of Cote on the fourth line? I wish I had thought of that.

- Mike Richards appeared to get a beer thrown on him in the penalty box. Not to beat a dead horse, but if that happened in Philly, we'd never hear the fucking end of it.

- Was it me or did the Canadiens' players attempt a lot of hits up high, bringing their hands and arms up to the Flyers' faces when they attempt a check? Isn't that roughing? I counted about 5 such hits and then I stopped counting. The only one that got called was the one on Upshall by Mike Komisarek, but there were at least a few others that could have been called.

Photo: AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Ryan Remiorz