Habs/Flyers Series Analysis
Posted 8:14 AM ET | Comments 2
<input type=checkbox checked disabled> Huet
<input type=checkbox checked disabled> Price
<input type=checkbox unchecked> Fleury
After the usual gratuitous 2 Habs pp goals donated on bad calls by the refs (seemed like every game this series), the Flyers took the bull by the horns in game 5 and just plain embarassed the #1 top ranked team of the big bad East.
This was a very sweet 6-4 elimination victory against a legacy hockey club with huge fanbase and long tradition of hockey legends. Montreal is a hip town and I will enjoy going back to visit during their JazzFest. But for now, we have the last laugh and Fred Shero is smiling with us.
As we all know, this series could, and should have been a 4 game sweep.
The cold hard fact is that the Habs only held a lead for hardly 1 period this entire series. This series was about domination on the scoreboard by the hardest working team on the ice.
Regarding the Habs only win; Kovalev admitted to intentionally sticking out his knee to draw that "knee-to-knee" penalty call on Richards in the last minute of game 1. Richie was leaning in with his shoulder, Kovy took the gamble on a dangerous move that ended up paying dividends. Superstars should know better than to go for the knee intentionally. Imagine if that blow ended Richies career. This one was way worse than Malkin's recent slewfoot incident, if for no other reason than it was an intentional hit to the knee.
It is now glaringly obvious that Carb was overconfident in Price. He should have held on to Huet for the playoff run. Carey Price was forced to go sit on the bench, (with either an empty net on the ice or Halak replacing him) in every game this series except the last. He was not pulled in game 5 because of 'pride', but maybe if Carb replaced Price after the Flyers tied it at 4-4, Halak might have pulled out a win for them.
Habs,
Enjoy your '09 2nd rounder, maybe you can draft a goalie to help you get past the 2nd round sometime. Huet was the better goalie of the two these playoffs and the Caps was a tougher series for sure.
I must admit that watching Briere youtube parodies, and reading Habs fans complaints about goalposts was pretty entertaining. However, I dont think theres a stat for goalposts on the scorecard. Theres no stat for grit either but we all know which team was leading in that category! The stat that really doesnt surprise me is that Habs had twice as many PP calls this series but the worst PP production. Ole! Marty Marty! Ole!
The Flyers juggernaut continues to plow ahead, eating scoring mvp's, #1 rank teams, #1 ranked PP, rookie goalies and soon to be handing the overconfident Penguins a double dose of Orange Crush with a side order of Vengence.
1st and 3rd seeds down... next up #2.
Get ready for Flyers vs Pens for the East Conference Champs!
Rocky Balboa, its a Philly thing; http://youtube.com/watch?v=V1tXhJniSEc
~mrbig
Good job! I hope that this is a very physical series I think it is the only way that the Flyers will be able to go forward.
Nicely done. Looking forward to Round 3!