It was a night to remember for the Orange and Black on this Monday. 13 years ago the Flyers made their last trip to the Stanley Cup Finals and now they're finally back. It wasn't easy though. Having already comeback from 3-1 and 3-2 down to win their two previous series and riding a 6-0 record this postseason in elimination games, the Habs weren't bothered by the 3-1 deficit they brought into tonight and they gave the Orange and Black all they could handle. In fact Montreal claimed the early 1-0 lead just 59 seconds into the 1st period. Only a few minutes later the Habs got a power play and a golden opportunity to extend their lead to 2-0. They couldn't take advantage though.
Instead Mike Richards cleared the puck down the ice, chased it over the blue line, collided with Jaroslav Halak, somehow maintained control of the puck as he fell to the ice and got himself up in time to slap it into the now empty net for the 1-1 tie. It was without doubt one of the most electrifying one man efforts you'll ever see and it ignited the Orange and Black. Just 3 minutes into the 2nd period Aaron Asham scored for a 2-1 lead. A minute later Jeff Carter registered his 1st goal since returning from the DL, to push the lead to 3-1. Thanks to Micheal Leighton and the superb defense and penalty killing in front of him it looked like that would be enough. Then Scott Gomez scored early in the 3rd to cut it to 3-2 and suddenly things were interesting again
From there on out Montreal desperately threw everything they had at Leighton to get that equalizing score, but he didn't budge, saving 25 of the 27 shots he faced. Try as they might Montreal just couldn't get it by him. Finally with less than 30 seconds to play, another stellar Richard' s effort led to an empty netter by Carter for a 4-2 lead and that about sealed the deal at last as the Orange and Black skated away with the 4-2 win and the Eastern conference title. All the members of the team are to be commended for their efforts thus far in this postseason. Never have I season a Flyer's team play with more heart than this one and never has it been more satisfying to watch them win. Here's hoping there's still 4 more satisfying nights to go.
2 comments:
Stanley Cup here we come!! Like you said the Flyers have never played with more heart. That combined with their actuall talent is definately I combination I wwould want on my side. Now its time to hope for those 4 more wins.
-to ph1llysports
yep
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