Flyers-Habs Face Off to Start Round 2

Just two days after closing out a 7-game series the Caps, the Flyers take the ice again tonight with their second round opponent, the top-seeded Montreal Canadiens. No team in the history of the sport can boast the success that the Habs have had, and even though it's a new building, the 24 championships earned on Montreal ice are undoubtedly intimidating.

Their fans are insane. Like, riot gear and arson insane. Just like they did in the regular season, they will boo the hell out of Danny Briere any time he touches the puck. Why? Because he speaks French, and when he became a free agent this past summer, he didn't sign there. He's not even from Montreal; he's from Ottawa. Get over it. But I digress. (Also, Carey Price might hate him for this.)

Danny's also the hottest player on the ice in these playoffs, leading the league in playoff goals (6) and points (11). The Flyers will need him to keep it up, because Montreal is one of the best offensive teams in hockey. They're faster than the Capitals, and we saw how Washington's speed and finesse gave the Flyers fits at times, but they're also deeper. In the end, depth was one of the biggest keys to beating the Caps, but Montreal has it in spades. From a Canadiens blog, we've learned that the top two lines for tonight will be as follows:

It has been confirmed that Carbonneau will stick with Higgins-Koivu-Kovalev line for the first game of the second round tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers. That means that the Kostitsyn brothers will again be centered by Tomas Plekanec.

They might not be the biggest household names, but those guys can fire the puck. The Habs also have a hot goaltender in Carey Price. Don't be fooled by his age; this franchise knows how to find soon-to-be legends in goal. A fella by the name of Patrick Roy lead the Canadiens to a Stanley Cup victory in 1986, his rookie year, so maybe postseason experience isn't always as important as it's made out to be. Price was good enough this season to let Montreal send Cristobal Huet to the Caps for chump change, and he notched two shutouts in the series against Boston.

The Bruins did show that Montreal can be beat, taking them to seven games, and the Flyers are arguably a superior team to Boston. However, if they want to advance to the next round, they have to stay out of the penalty box. The Canadiens had an amazing power play unit this past season, converting on 24.2% of their opportunities to lead the NHL in that category. The Flyers were second, with 21.8% success, so Montreal will need to take it easy with the stick play as well. The Bruins managed to stifle the Habs PP unit, holding them to 3 goals on 32 man-ups, so you can bet John Stevens and the boys will be hitting the tape throughout the series.

Marty Biron was the star of the first round for the Flyers, and he's playing at the top his game. He'll need to stay there against the shooting gallery that's about to start, but that's nothing new in the playoffs, where a hot goalie can take a team all the way to glory. The Flyers lost all four games of the season series, outscored 15-6. But they don't call it the second season for nothing, and the Flyers have shown a lot of character any time they've been counted out.   

Comments

[Paul]

In sixers news, it looks like Larry Brown is going to be coaching somewhere again. He resigned from his job at the Sixers today.

[gootman]

I'm pumped for the game tonight... should be a good one. They need to come out hitting, so the Canadian media comes out whining about the big bad Flyers.

[Roachie]

This team has more speed than Washington, and their forecheck is just as ferocious, if not moreso.

Their fans, who rioted after their first-round (!) game 7 win over Boston, will focus their collective ire at Danny Briere, who spurned the Habs for the Flyers this off-season.

From the Montreal Gazette: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/story.html?id=f1bd11f4-ffa7-432e-8d25-c28b253feb54

[jd]

much like the buffalo series of two years ago, hatcher will be meaninglesss and inneffective on defense. o, and his streak of taking bad penalties continues.

can he possibly get any slower?

sorry for the hate people, i just get tired of seeing him lumbering around. i would feel better if parent were playing.

[Dan]

Ah Hexy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR-ZgMz3FIU

Go Flyers!

[Dale Hunter]

Les Flyers sont faits comme le dîner. Canadiens dans quatre.

The Flyers are done like dinner.
Canadiens in 4!

[jd]

dale:

o yeah? well, that's, just like, your opinion, man.

[Paul]

Well it is nice to see that the bandwagon Caps fans are so bitter about their loss to the Flyers that they have now become obnoxious Canadiens fans.

[Kulp]

I was thinking to myself... the great thing about playing the Montreal Canadiens was unlike the Mets, Caps, and Pens, their fans wouldn't come here and leave obnoxious comments throughout the series.

Because they speak, you know... Canadian...

[theKrisheim]

fuck the NHL

fuck VS

fuck the NHL network

[will]

@ theKrisheim

link to the game here http://www.channelsurfing.net/

[Pete]

I am really, really excited about this series. The Flyers continue to be the underdog, but this time the stakes are so much higher. The Capitals only made the third seed because someone had to win the Southeast division, otherwise they would have been 7,8, or out entirely. Albeit the series was closer than anyone expected and it was nice to send Ovechkin packing. The Canadians on the other hand are the best the NHL has to offer. This is a true david versus goliath scenario. I look forward to some great hockey.

The other thing I like about this series is the fact that despite the history I have so much respect for the Canadians. They have true hockey fans and are a serious hockey town. If we happen to lose,(stressing the if) I think it will be much easier for me to deal with than if we had lost to the Capitals, or dare I say the Pens.

[gootman]

@theKrishiem: hit me up on aim or gtalk for my slingbox feed

[gootman]

guess it would help if I added my name: gootman2017 on both

GOAL!!!!!!!!! Umberger!

[Roachie]

A filthy goal, but I'll take it.

[gootman]

Dowd!!!!!! Great shift from the 4th line and it paid off.

[Jeff]

Threadjack

Jay Glazer just reported on ESPN radio that Lito is about to be traded to Tampa for a 2nd rounder and another late rounder.

If this is true it really sucks.

/Threadjack

[Mike L.]

Can we chant Marty yet? I think its a little early but damn. Maybe POST-POST-POST would be more appropriate.

[gootman]

Now we can chant.. MARTY! MARTY! MARTY!

[Mike L.]

MARTY MARTY MARTY. Damn if hes gonna play like this the rest of the playoffs i need to get tickets.

[J.P.(the drunk)]

MARTY MARTY MARTY o yeah FUCK CANADA

[Mike L.]

FUCK THE REFS. DO THEY UNDERSTAND WHAT THE FUCK A HIGH STICK IS!!! THE LEAGUE TRYING TO SCREW THE FLYERS IS REALLY STARTING TO GET OLD. I SAY PAUL HOLMGREN GOES UP TO TORONTO AND KICKS SOME SERIOUS ASS SO THEY START REVIEWING THESE GOALS FAIRLY. THIS IS LIKE THE 9TH TIME ITS HAPPENED THIS YEAR. IM SICK OF IT.(OBVIOUSLY)

[gootman]

that was a high stick, but would have been a cheesy call off.

[Mike]

What a BS call. I hate to say it, but I am really stating to think that all of those go against us. And when we need a goal, they go against us too. BS. That being said, have the flyers ever had a three goal lead in any of these games, or the whole season for that matter. They can never hold on or increase a 2 goal lead...

[dan]

Alex Kovalev... now defying the laws of physics to screw the flyers over.

I think the last time we had a break like that was when LeClair shot it through the twine against the Sabres ages ago. Sigh. Can we get some decent bounces for once??

[Dale Hunter]

C'était seulement une question de temps avant que le Canadiens ait dominé les Flyers.

Cette série, les arbitres ne sera pas sur le livre de paie Flyers.

Ole' Ole' Ole' Ole'

[stevefredericks]

cheesy call off? he broke the rules

no way they let us win this series - maybe well get lucky and win the game but noooooooo fuckin way theyre gonna let the flyers win

not after what weve seen tonight

[kkreider13]

Dale: Sorry but we speak English here in America, your going to have to translate that little message of yours. Except for that last part, I understood that much.

[stevefredericks]

hey dale, keep postng here because every post from you makes me remember lupuls goal and how that was the best game ive ever watched

i appreciate it

[kkreider13]

That's a good way to get the crowd out of it and setting the tone early!

[J.P.(the drunk)]

I hate the french and i hate canadiens so when you put them together they really piss me off

[themajor]

a translation of what dale said
It was only a question of time before the Canadians dominated the Flyers.

This series, the referees will not be on the book of pay Flyers.

Ole' Ole' Ole' Ole'

I know this game isn't over but at no time have the habs lead the game.

and for dale

aller merde vous

[dan]

Can someone please teach the ref his anatomy? A shoulder is not a knee.

[Matt P.]

apparently having knees is now a penalty

[dan]

bullshit.

[Matt P.]

what the hell are these sticks made of anymore?

[Mark]

FUCK! tied up

[johndewar]

Wow, the refs have started early with trying to keep a Canadian team in the NHL playoffs. That's two goals by Kovalev that he didn't deserve.

[El Ricko]

This is a joke, right? The Flyers are on Candid Camera?

[Mike L.]

Once again the god damn refs just have to screw us over. I hope richards just hauls off and breaks his stick over that damn zebras wrists so he cant blow the whistle.

[doubleh]

I have to say the officiating in the NHL is worse than the NBA. At least in the NBA the refs are only biased against individual players; not entire teams (unless it's the Spurs).

[Francis]

I heard Melrose say he thought this NHL playoffs the officials were allowing lots of physical play, but I sure haven't seen it. I've seen lots of ticky tack calls from officials late in games completely changing the outcome, esp. in the Bruins-Canadiens series and now this. An absolute horror of a call on Richards. I cannot believe this.

FUCK FRANCE
GO FLYERS

[Dale Hunter]

Les Flyers perdent un autre fil. Quel choc ?

Kovalev avec le but wining de jeu dans des heures supplémentaires. Et le tour de chapeau

[stevefredericks]

hey dale, keep posting here because each time i see one of your posts (which nobody on here understands anyway) it brings back the great memories of lupul in game 7

[Greg]

can we ban this moron Dale?

[Francis]

I also have to completely disagree with Will's comment. I'm glad we beat the Caps, but there's no team I dislike and want to beat more than the Canadiens, save perhaps the Rangers or sometimes Devils. Not only are they the NY Yankees of hockey, not only are their fans absolutely insufferable, but this team in the last five-six years has been the least classy, whiniest, bitchiest, most dive-taking team in the NHL (or LNH depending on who's reading). I can respect the Caps squad, and Brashear and Ovechkin are two of my favorite, if not my two favorite non-Flyers players in the league, but I've got nothing but contempt for the Montreal Canadiens, except Saku Koivu, he's a hell of a story.

[Steve J]

It's nice to know that Caps fans think that WE paid off the refs despite the fact that we only had that one call go our way the entire series. I still have images of Ovechkin's dive in my head. Sigh.

Well...this....no words.

Some of the worst officiating I've ever seen...

[J.P.(the drunk)]

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

[Dale Hunter]

Et un but ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Canadiens dans quatre

Ole' Ole' Ole' Ole'

[er222]

Honest to god, up until this last series I thought the Capitals were created as an expansion team like 8 years ago. Guess their history hasn't been good enough to bring fans out to their playoff games. At least your Nats are playing well though, right?