Pinch Me, I'm Dreaming

Ah man, I just woke up from the best nap, and I had the greatest dream... the Flyers closed out the series in five... what's that? I'm not dreaming?

Yea, I'm pretty pumped right now. I did not expect the Flyers to win this series. Even when we were up 3-1, I didn't want to let myself hope. But man, the Flyers showed some real heart tonight. They went down 1-0 early, the Habs got their first lead of the series a few minutes in on a nice deflection in front. But who else but the Umburglar tied the game up for the Flyers. He scored while laying on the ice... you really just have to watch the highlights, I can't do it justice. But then the Flyers gave up two more goals and Canadiens goalie Carey Price was just stopping everything. Then the floodgates opened. Mike Richards deflected a puck with his glove to make the score 3-2. Seconds later, the Hatch Attack took a nice slap shot that Price saved, but, again, who else but Umberger collected the puck behind the net and stuffed in a wrap around. Seconds later, Scott Hartnell had a 2 on 1 with Vinny Prospal and passed the puck to Prospal. The play was broken up and the Canadiens had a counter rush. The Flyers broke that up and Kimo Timmonen found Hartnell skating all alone up the side boards and hit him with a long outlet pass and Hartnell decided to take the shot this time and ripped a slapper by Price. In my opinion, Price should have saved all three goals, but his confidence has been shaky at best this season.

The Habs tied it early in the 3rd, but with about three minutes left, Jeff Carter got in on the action. He knocked down a clearing attempt and flipped a shot towards the net, and Scottie Upshall deflected it perfectly into the net for the game winner. The Habs never really got any sustained pressure after that, and Mike Knuble iced it with an empty net goal (side note- Knuble has had three goals these playoffs, two have been empty netters, the third was an OT winner).

Series MVP: Martin Biron. The Flyers were outshot by a wide margin in every game except game five. Without Biron standing on his head for long stretches of games, this series would have ended quite differently. Biron had a .935 save percentage for the series. He needs to keep it up if the Flyers have any shot at a winning the Cup.

Honorable Mention: R.J. Umberger. With eight goals in this series, he became Carey Price's worst nightmare. Price is going to have visions of Umberger flashing through his head for the next few weeks.

Final Thoughts: The Flyers are going to need to use all the scoring depth they have if they want to beat the Penguins, their likely opponent for the Eastern Conference Finals. Vinny Prospal needs to start producing again. The whole first line really needs to step it up. Umberger carried the team through this series, which is great, but the Flyers will need production from every line to continue through these playoffs...

It was nice to see that the Flyers have been cutting down on their penalties. After having nine penalty kills in game 3, the Flyers had four each in the last two games.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Flyers were 0/3 on the powerplay tonight. While their pp% is second in the playoffs, they will have to convert frequently to make their road easier...

I was really impressed with the Canadiens fans today. I ripped them earlier in the series for dumping beer on Richards and booing the American national anthem, but they were picture perfect today. There wasn't a mass exodus after the Habs went down 5-4 with three minutes left, they stayed and cheered to the very last. Also instead of booing and throwing things on the ice, like the fake Washington Capitals fans did, they cheered their team, thanking them for a great season. Again, I was very impressed.

And finally, BRING ON THE PENGUINS (or Rangers)




Oh yea, and thank you to Four Habs Fans for keeping me entertained during the Flyers games I couldn't watch. It was nice to talk hockey with knowledgeable and passionate fans.