Live On Twitter



NEWS BY DIVISION

Like Our Facebook Page

Podcasts

FUTURES WATCH

COLUMNS

Canadiens stun Penguins; Flyers force Game 7 Print
Headlines
Written by J.P. Hoornstra   
Thursday, May 13, 2010 00:09
Wednesday’s Stanley Cup playoff scores

| Montreal 5, Pittsburgh 2 (Canadiens win series 4-3)
| Philadelphia 2, Boston 1 (Series tied 3-3)

Montreal 5, Pittsburgh 2

Hal Gill put it best – which in itself should come as no surprise.

“It’s nice to shut this place down,” said the former Pengiun and current Canadien. “I have a lot of good memories here.”

His Habs left one big, bad memory Wednesday.

The denizens at Mellon Arena had their moments of quietude – five, to be exact – even before the final horn sounded on the Canadiens’ stunning 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins, forever silencing the only home rink the Penguins have known.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was similiarly at a loss for words.

"I don't have an answer," he told a gathering of reporters.

This has become routine for the Canadiens, who have now beaten the sitting Presidents Trophy and Stanley Cup winners in back-to-back, seven-game series. Gill, who signed with Montreal in the offseason after calling the Igloo home for two seasons, said it’s taken a team effort.

“We play well together,” Gill said. “We’ve gotten guys to step up at the right time. In the playoffs, it’s not about your star players, it’s about everyone.”

Brian Gionta scored twice and Dominic Moore, Michael Cammalleri and Travis Moen scored once in support of goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who made 37 saves.

The Canadiens were outshot 39-20 but went 2-for-4 on the power play. Pittsburgh did not convert any of its five man-advantage chances.

The Pens also allowed a short-handed goal to the Canadiens’ Travis Moen at 5:14 of the second period, which gave the Habs an insurmountable 4-0 lead. It was the last shot Marc-Andre Fleury would face in a meager nine-save effort.

With backup Brent Johnson in net, Chris Kunitz and Jordan Staal scored less than eight minutes apart in the second period to bring Pittsburgh within 4-2. But any chance of a comeback was dashed when Gionta’s second power-play goal of the game made it 5-2 with 10 minutes left in the third period.

While few picked Montreal to upset both the Washington Capitals and the Penguins in successive rounds, Cammalleri — who has scored a league-leading 12 goals in 14 playoff games — said the Habs haven’t stunned themselves.

“We had that underlying confidence," he said. "It’s been good here so far.”



Philadelphia 2, Boston 1

Forget the odds of an NHL team coming back from a 3-0 playoff deficit to win a seven-game series. The Philadelphia Flyers already have.

“It feels great, but we can’t look too far ahead of this game,” goaltender Michael Leighton said after preserving a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins. “The next one, that’s the big one. We’ve battled back in this series.”

Leighton made 30 saves and had another 30 Bruin shots blocked by Flyers skaters, including a game-high six by Matt Carle. Mike Richards and Danny Briere scored the goals, in the first and second period, respectively.

Milan Lucic scored Boston’s lone goal with 60 seconds remaining in regulation and Tuukka Rask (25 saves) sitting on the bench for an extra attacker.

Despite an injury to starting goalie Brian Boucher, the Flyers are beating the Bruins at their own game: Defense and goaltending.

“The last couple games, we’ve done a lot better job of just getting out in shooting lanes, forcing them to shoot it wide or dump it back in behind,” Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger said. “It’s a testament to the forwards getting in lanes and sacrificing. … I think we’re starting to figure that game out again.”

One team will face the upstart Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Finals.

“Now both teams have their backs against the wall,” Pronger said. “That’s a dangerous position to be in, both for us and for them.”

Neither team was supposed to be here in the first place. The seventh-seeded Flyers upset the second-seeded New Jersey Devils in the first round, while the sixth-seeded Bruins toppled the third-seeded Buffalo Sabres.

But there was scant hope in Philadelphia after the Flyers lost Games 1 and 2 on the road, then saw Boston cruise to a 4-1 victory in Game 3 at the Wachovia Center.

But Simon Gagne scored in overtime of Game 4 to secure a 5-4 win, and the Flyers overcame an injury to Boucher to win Game 5 in Boston, 4-0.

For the record, only two teams have come back from 3-0 playoff series deficits: The 1975 New York Islanders and the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs.

Game 7: at Boston, 7 p.m. EDT Friday (TSN, Versus, RDS, CSN Philadelphia)

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/hide comments

Write comment

smaller | bigger
security image
Write the displayed characters

busy
Last Updated on Thursday, May 13, 2010 01:04