Habs’ Run Ends With 6-4 Loss To Flyers
Posted May 3, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Scottie Upshall scored with 3:04 left in the third period as the Philadelphia Flyers completed an upset of the top-seeded Montreal Canadiens with a 6-4 victory on Saturday night to advance to the NHL Eastern Conference finals.
Upshall was parked beside the net to deflect a Jeff Carter shot past Carey Price to break a tie and put the Flyers, who finished last overall in the NHL last season, into the conference final for the first time since 2000.
R.J. Umberger, whose two goals gave him eight in the series and nine in the playoffs to date, started a three-goal outburst in a 2:58 span late in the second period that erased a 3-1 Montreal lead. The three goals came on only six shots on rattled rookie Price
Andrei Kostitsyn tied it for the Canadiens 2:13 into the third frame, but the Canadiens failed to get the go-ahead goal.
Mike Knuble added an empty net goal with 50 seconds left to play and the fans serenaded Montreal off the ice with their “Ole Ole” song usually sung in victory.
The sixth-seeded Flyers won the best-of-seven conference semifinal 4-1 by taking four straight games after losing the series opener in overtime. They will meet the winner of the Pittsburgh-New York Rangers series in the conference final. Pittsburgh leads 3-1 with Game 5 set for Sunday night.
Mike Richards and Scott Hartnell also scored on Price, who was back in the net after sitting out Game 4 in favour of back-up Jaroslav Halak.
Tomas Plekanec, Alex Kovalev and Christopher Higgins had the other goals for top-seeded Montreal.
The sell-out crowd greeted the Canadiens with a deafening chant of “Go Habs Go” as they looked to stave off elimination on home ice.
They got what they were seeking by getting traffic front of Martin Biron and opening the scoring for the first time in the series. Plekanec got the edge of the crease during a power play to redirect a Patrice Brisbois shot in at 4:29
Philadelphia tied it at 10:20. Price stopped Umberger’s first attempt on a rush but the big winger pushed in the rebound while sliding on the ice.
Kovalev put Montreal back in front at 11:28. The crafty Russian was parked in front and looked to drag his foot so that Maxim Lapierre’s wrap-around went in off his skate.
Everything looked to be going Montreal’s way as Higgins scored on a wrist shot 8:15 into the second frame and then the Canadiens killed off a 56-second two-man advantage.
But a break went the Flyers’ way when Richards reached up his left hand as though to catch Umberger’s high shot and had it hit a finger, then brush his chest and go in past a befuddled Price at 14:02. Video replay confirmed the goal counted because it was not batted in with a hand.
Only 1:42 later, Price failed to cover his post as Umberger sneaked a shot in from the side of the net. Hartnell then scored on a blast from the left side at 17:00 to put the Flyers in front for the first time in the game.
Coach Guy Carbonneau, whose lucky multicoloured tie is now 3-1, opted to keep Price in the net for the third period and he made a smart skate save on a Richards’ breakaway 12 minutes in.
Trailing 4-3 going into the third period, the Canadiens had their fans in a frenzy as Kostitsyn tied the score by using a defenceman as a screen and beating Biron with a quick shot at 2:13.
Photo Credit: Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images
