Well, it’s time I fessed up. Our Philadelphia Flyers bullied the Montreal Canadiens 6-4 (in Montreal) in Game 5, enough to win a convincing Conference Semi-Final playoff by 4 games to 1. My prediction had been for a Habs victory in 6 or less games. Got that wrong (at least for the Flyers, I got it wrong…I was right that Liverpool would be knocked out in the Champions’ League semi-final, if with the very wrong score).
Bravo to the Daniel Briere (who was ironically held scoreless in game 5), Marty Biron
(another 31 saves) and, most notably, RJ Umberger, a truly talented all-rounder. Worth noting again the the Flyers field a very Canadian team…with 15 players from up north (and arguably the three best — Briere, Biron and Gagne — from Quebec, although Gagné is still out with concussion).
I suspect the next stop will be Pittsburgh (they play game 5 this afternoon). Considering the season’s awful record against the Penguins, the outlook again doesn’t look good (same problem with the Canadiens for the Flyers this past season).
No prediction this time, but I have to assume it is going to take another herculean team effort and some masterful coaching. The sum of the parts was clearly bigger than individual parts against Montreal.
I held the same predicition for this series Minter and now have to revise my playoff pool. Pittsburg has been incredibly dominant in these playoffs. Their team is one of the most complete units I’ve seen since Gretzky played with the Oilers. Three scoring lines and a energetic checking line with arguably the best goon in the game today, mobile defense with enough nastiness to clear the front of the net, and a goal who has been able to take it up a notch in clutch games. Philly really should be done for in this series; nonetheless, I think they are going to make it interesting and I won’t dicount them again.
When you look at the combination of Malkin (probably even more better player than Ovechkin) and Cosby, and you stack up against the Flyers top line, it’s a blow out. However, I reviewed the regular season’s performance and saw that the Flyers actually w5 l3 against the Pens, winning the first four contests. I guess I only remembered the 7-1 blowout in March! The final game of the season (w2-0) was a little farcical.
Anyway, as a Philly fan, I am thrilled they have gotten this far considering last season’s debacle.