Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Supreme Skepticism to Stan-tastic

Most NHL fans didn’t anticipate the Philadelphia Flyers or the Montreal Canadiens fighting for the Eastern Conference and a chance to play in the Stanley Cup this season. Both proved skeptics wrong by advancing to the conference finals. The Canadiens upended the Capitals and defending champion Penguins. The Flyers were the last team to make the post-season on a shootout win in the final game of the regular season. Philadelphia went on to top the Devils before making history by besting the Bruins in four straight games. The Flyers became the first team to erase a 3-0 deficit and win a series in 35 years. Now, Philadelphia is high flying and back in their eighth Stanley Cup finals after eliminating Montreal 4-2 in the clinching Game 5 Monday night. The Flyers will face the Western conference-winning Blackhawks in Game 1 this Saturday.
Philadelphia netminder, Michael Leighton, allowed a goal 59 seconds into Game 5 but shutdown the Canadiens the rest of the way to help the Flyers earn the East. The 29 year old Ontario native made 25 saves to run his playoff record to 6-1. Leighton wasn’t even on the team’s roster in the beginning of the playoffs. Both skating squads were 0-for-6 on power play opportunities at Wachovia Center last night. The guest Canadiens were first to find the net on Brian Gionta’s ninth post-season goal but the Flyers offense ignited for three unanswered goals to plow ahead 3-1 after three periods. Jaroslav Halak, the crafty Canadien goalie, made 22 stops and yielded all three goals. Philadelphia’s gold medal winning captain, Mike Richards, tied the game with a first period goal and later added two assists. Richards’ tenacious tap-in slap came after an aggressive Halak collided with his own teammate, leaving an abandoned net as ripe for the taking for the captain.
Arron Asham provided Philadelphia’s first lead in the opening minutes of the second period. Jeff Carter, the Flyers’ regular season scoring leader, notched a pair of goals sandwiched between a Montreal tally by Scott Gomez. Carter’s second period shot from the far post occurred just over a minute after Asham hit the puck between the posts. Gomez’s third period goal wasn’t enough to save the Habs from going 6-0 in elimination games. Instead, the eighth-seeded Canadiens fell for the first time this season in decisive series-clinching games. Carter sent Philadelphia home champions with a put-away empty-netter for the game’s final goal. The spectacular Flyers have stuffed the skeptics by dropping the Canadiens in five games.

Parting Points: Song of the day- Staind’s “It’s Been A While”

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