106
MONTREAL — Philadelphia Flyers goalie Martin Biron was excellent, but his cause was significantly aided by the Montreal Canadiens lack of finish on Saturday evening.
Biron made 34 saves in the Flyers' 4-2 victory to knot the second-round series 1-1. But the Canadiens have only themselves to blame because they missed plenty of glorious scoring chances, especially on the power play.
"We're obviously disappointed with the loss, but we carried that game," said Montreal goalie Carey Price, who did not have a strong game. "If we could have buried half of our open-net chances we could have won 8-4."
Biron made a couple dandy glove-hand saves on Montreal centre Tomas Plekanec in the second period on a breakaway and from point blank. He has only one goal in nine playoff games this spring after a 29-goal regular season.
Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Martin Biron makes a glove save during the second period of Game 2 against the Canadiens in Montreal on Saturday. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press)
Videos
Related Articles
Internet Links
Related Information
- Montreal Canadiens
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Washington Capitals
- Martin Biron
- Daniel Briere
- Patrice Brisebois
- Jeff Carter
- Braydon Coburn
- Christopher Higgins
- Saku Koivu
- Andrei Markov
- Ryan O'Byrne
- Tomas Plekanec
- Carey Price
- R.J. Umberger
Plekanec clearly was frustrated with his lack of touch because after Biron reached behind to stop Plekanec from in close, Plekanec feigned that he was going to slam his stick on the crossbar of the Flyers goal.
"I was fortunate on that one," Biron said. "I got my glove out and it went right into the webbing. A couple bounces went my way.
"I felt good at that point," added Biron, about his stellar play in the second period when he made 13 saves.
Besides Montreal's 36 shots on goal, they missed the net on another 21 times and the Flyers blocked 23 more shots before another capacity crowd of 21,273 at the Bell Centre.
"We did some really good things and we moved the puck well," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "In the second period, we missed four open nets that Biron didn't have a chance. We have to be sharper when we're around the net.
"We have to lose some game because I expect this to be a seven-game series."
Games 3 and 4 will be contested at Philadelphia's Wachovia Center on Monday and Wednesday.
For the Flyers, there was a sense of relief that they managed to successfully protect a two-goal lead. Twice in their opening-round series against the Washington Capitals, they opened up two-goal leads only to see the Capitals storm back to take the win. The same scenario played out in the series opener against the Canadiens, when the Flyers led 2-0 after the opening 20 minutes and wound up dropping a 4-3 overtime decision.
"It wasn't easy," said Philadelphia's Daniel Briere, who scored his fourth game-winning goal in nine playoff games "I like that we didn't sit back ... Martin played great."
After Philadelphia received goals from R.J. Umberger and Jeff Carter, the Flyers led 2-1 after the first period and 3-1 after 40 minutes when Briere swooped around Montreal's Andrei Markov and stuffed a shot underneath Price.
Price wasn't sharp. Both goals from Carter and Umberger, who put the game out of reach with his second of the game with two minutes and 21 seconds remaining in the third period, beat Price over his right shoulder.
"It was kind of tough because I didn't have a lot of work," said Price, who faced 23 shots. "But I can play better."
While Flyers coach John Stevens shuffled his lines, his Montreal counterpart was forced to go with rookie blueliner Ryan O'Byrne after veteran defenceman Patrice Brisebois suffered a leg injury in the morning.
Montreal had a 69-second 5-on-3 advantage in the first period when the Flyers were nailed for too many men on the ice and defenceman Braydon Coburn was whistled for a roughing penalty.
The Canadiens didn't score during their two-man advantage, but captain Saku Koivu salvaged a goal when he scored on a wraparound play. It was Koivu's first goal of the 2008 playoffs after he missed the first five games because of his fractured left foot.
Markov scored early in the third period when a Christopher Higgins shot deflected to Markov in front during a four-on-four situation.
"We had so many scoring chances, but that's what the playoffs are all about — execution," Higgins said.
Note: There was an ugly incident after the Flyers scored their final goal. Montreal's Tom Kostopoulos threw a left hook to the face of Philadelphia's Kimmo Timonen and fell on top of the Flyers defender. Kostopoulos and Philadelphia's Scott Hartnell went to the penalty box for roughing, but there may be further discipline after the league reviews the play.
"The only thing that kind of really disturbs me is that, at the end of the game, Kostopoulos," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "Hey, he's a tough kid and I've got a lot of respect for him and Bégin. But to go up and blindside-sucker Kimmo Timonen on a play at the end there.
"That's cowardly, in my opinion. There's no place for that. Kimmo's our best player. He's totally unsuspecting. That leaves a bad taste in your mouth."
