1st Period:
Panic button pressed by Carbonneau. Going away from Price could be very bad for the Habs. It shows no confidence. What if Halak stinks? Can you go back to Price with confidence?
WTF was that call on Richards? Briere is horsecollared and no call - but a boarding call when the guy doesn't hit the boards? Are you kidding me?? People say there is no preferential treatment of the teams. Give me a break! Carter missed on a breakaway from his own blue line shorthanded as the Flyers kill the bogus call.
Nice passing play from Umberger to Richards to Lupul for a nice shot. Umberger actually boarded but no call. Biron gets run over freezing the puck - no call on them. Flyers get a call for protecting Biron. This is really bad start by the officiating.
THAT MAKES TWO AWFUL CALLS IN 13:00 MINUTES OF PLAY. Both bad calls were killed, but they are keeping Briere and Prospal off the ice for each bad call.
Good period by the Flyers. Bad period for Refs - but what else is new. 2 phantom calls on the Flyers, but the Habs committed no penalties in the entire period - again.
End of 1st Period.
2nd Period
Nice period of hockey. I think. Versus on DirecTV kept going on and off. I saw about 40% of the period between the blackouts and being on the phone to get the issue fixed.
Biron made a great save - on the radio - Tim Saunders called it a goal and then Propp said no great save! Umberger is amazing!
3rd Period
I loved the story on Versus by Keith Jones saying how Jeff Carter has not taken 1 slapshot all season. He says he stinks at slapshots so he uses the wrister.
Nice to watch Smith play back to a higher level the past few games. He took some heat in the 1st round and has really played better this round. Carter has unbelievably long arms and uses them to his advantage playing defense. Another good penalty kill. Hartnell GOAL!!!! 2-0 Flyers. Hartnell follows a post shot by Prospal and cleans up the garbage!!
Soft flip off Hatchers leg goes in and breaks the shutout bid. 2-1 Flyers 6 minutes left. Then Koivu scores to tie it! These letdowns after a goal must stop soon. 2 goals in 40 seconds. Flyers Powerplay coming after the commercial break!
Danny Boy puts the Flyers up again 3-2. Maybe somebody will cover him out of the corner soon. Umberger empty netter ends the game - Flyers win 4-2. Lead the series 3-1.
terrible game
LOVELY game if you ask me, Miller Time! Sucks being penalized in the last few minutes for no reason, doesn't it?
Miller...your hate and disgust for the Flyers outweighs your passion for the game. Sad Sad Sad....
wasn't the call for ramming Kapenen into the boards by the open bench door...i thought they pretty much have to call that...it's a dangerous play.
Will people shut the f*** up about the refs, they suck for BOTH teams get over it. If they get the calls one night, we will get them another. Other than that, good blog.
Biron has been really good, but I think one of the keys to the Flyers success (both in this series and against the Caps) is their agressiveness on the PK. The Caps and Habs continually look hurried on the PP. They have given up some PP goals, but for the most part their PK has been extremely disruptive.
There is a difference between missed calls and bad calls. A missed call is the positioning of the play (like the ref losing sight of the puck). The penalty in Game 1 on Richards looked like a knee from behind him - but there was no knee contact. Those things happen. As a team you must just accept the "rub of the game" and play through. There is a bad call when you watch the play from the correct location and make the call. The "phantom boarding" on Richards in Game 4 - for example. The ref just wanted to call a penalty. The ref wanted to make a statement. Kuukonen gets called for moving guys from the crease, not one call like that against Montreal for doing the same stuff at every whistle. That is the consistency problem. Call it the same way all night long! That is all I and everyone else is asking for.