Montreal Canadiens vs. Philadelphia Flyers (Gm 2)
May 18, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Musings and In-Game Scribbles Eastern Conference Final
My English is as good as yours, I just write these in a stream-of-consciousness mode that I insist excuses me from small things like rules of grammar or general etiquette. Let’s call it conversational English, hopped up on beans. You know what kind of beans (no, Carl Mellesmoen, not the magic ones).
Montreal Canadiens
visit
Philadelphia Flyers
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
Round Three – Playoffs (Philadelphia leads series 1-0)
Game Two (score posted following scribbles)
Missed it? Musings capture the game in writing. A written transcript typed during the game, posted and edited about thirty minutes afterward. Based on the RDS French telecast of the Montreal Canadiens game, Musings take about 20 minutes to read. More detailed than an article, fresher than a looping highlight and good with morning coffee. Or late-night chocolate. A unique way to re-experience the game.
This is the arena that can trombone Bill Conti’s champion harmonics. This is the place that made a signatory of George Washington. This is the home of the Liberty Bell. This is the City of Brotherly Love.
Sergei is in the lineup tonight.
Kostitsyn.
Jaroslav Halak and Michael Leighton are the goaltenders. Dan O’Halloran and Tim Peel are the referees. Good.
First Period
Montreal wins the faceoff. Tomas Plekanec. To the blue. Sent in. Andrei Kostitsyn loses a board battle. To the other side. Hal Gill keeps it in. Now it’s behind the net.
Andrei K sends a pass to the slot. Sails through to the blue. Michael Cammalleri sees it hop over his stick.
Gomez line hops on. Gionta carries it from the neutral zone and gets the column. Shot. Save.
Flyers exit. Halak smothers on a covered entry.
Leighton’s save was a closed butterfly drop as we see on the replay.
Faceoff.
Gomez line remains.
Travis Moen carries it down the left. Makes it past Flyer defender Chris Pronger. Flyers recover behind their net. But they turn it over on a careless pass. Moore is on and in. No harm done.
Flyers exit. Good coverage again. Shot goes up and out of play.
Arron Asham confronts Roman Hamrlik after the whistle.
Hamrlik had hit Claude Giroux after the whistle. Medium bump behind the net. Again, the Canadiens appear to be the first to initiate hostility.
Faceoff to Halak’s left. Dominic Moore wins it. Down for Josh Gorges. Sends it along the boards.
Whistle.
Flyers Lukas Krajicek is called for slashing.
I’m surprised. I was expecting Maxim Lapierre to incur the first penalty of the night. Learned optimism. Uh, I’m still learning.
Early clear on the initial entry.
Breakout. Gomez carries it in on the left. Shoots. Very good shot despite the angle.
Flyers respond with an offside entry.
Benoit Pouliot is out of the lineup. First time this season.
Stoppage.
PK Subban gets away with a trip outside his blue and the crowd boos.
Giroux controls on the hash to Halak’s right. Gomez is called for hooking Giroux. Pierre Houde says he’s starting a collection.
Legit call. I didn’t need to see a replay to believe that.
Briere and Plekanec to Halak’s left. Plekanec wins it. Hamrlik has it. To Spacek. Now to Plekanec. Fours will last one minute.
No changes to the Flyer lineup from game one. Benoit Brunet says when you win 6-0 there wouldn’t be. Oh really.
Faceoff outside the Flyer blue is won by the home team. Montreal recovers the disc at their blue line. Plekanec and Cammalleri are the pairing. They effect seven seconds of control including some behind-the-net stickhandling from the adroit centre.
Flyers push it out.
Moore is on. Drives down the right. Moen is with him. Covered. Leans. Backhander. Short side. Handled.
Flyers go to the power-play. Daniel Briere. A move. Gets a pass back. Over. Closing. Shot. In.
Philadelphia 1, Montreal 0
Glenn Metropolit line follows.
Houde says, once again, a penalty. Referring to the Gomez hook. He recaps Montreal’s record after giving up the first goal in the post-season. It isn’t good.
Neutral zone puck dithering. Stoppage.
Cammalleri discusses something with an official. His mouthguard makes him look as if he’s wearing braces.
Briere against Moore outside the Philly blue.
Changes are not permitted to Philly and two or more players return to the bench.
Flyers come up with the puck at the left hash. Roll down. Work the boards for five seconds. But they are looking for line changes and they give the puck up deep.
Gomez is on the ice. Cammalleri and Gionta are with him.
Subban and Hamrlik are the defensive pairing. Cammalleri supports on the boards and Montreal with a three to two advantage are able to come up with the puck.
Puck is deep. Pyatt, Plekanec and Metropolit are on. Pyatt comes up with a fried grasshopper puck in the slot. Turns and shoots. Houde’s voice rises.
Pressure continues. The puck slips around the slot. Legs and sticks. Habs urgency. They draw a whistle. Power-play, Montreal.
Ville Leino is called for holding.
Brunet says that Gill’s two incursions during the last possession was a key.
Jacques Martin is stern behind the bench. And concerned.
Faceoff to Leighton’s right.
Flyers win the draw. Clearing attempt.
Picked off by Marc-Andre Bergeron. Then his own pass is intercepted. I shake my head. Lemons.
Habs are stopped once leaving their ice. Now they set up.
Plekanec is on the first wave with Andrei Kostitsyn and Cammalleri.
Plekanec has it on the hash. Weaves into the high slot. Shoots. Hits something.
Montreal is careless twice with the puck. Support and retention.
Movement. Shots.
More movement. And Cammalleri is stopped point blank twice. Andrei Kostitsyn once. Cammalleri falls to help keep the puck in play. One stick lunging. Beaten sheets in the wind. It gets to the point.
Penalty ends. Great saves from Leighton. No wrinkles.
Some long shots in there on that last sequence. Best pressure from Montreal this series.
Flyers have a man in. One Hab back. Flyer trailer is covered. No shot results.
Canadiens effect another possession. It ends with five, six players in the crease and some shoving. But because it’s Gionta and Cammalleri involved the situation does not escalate.
Both are respected for their aversion to grimy post-whistle gestures.
We resume. Nine and a half minutes left.
Whistle. Briere is on the ice. Removes his mouthguard. Skates to the bench area.
Plekanec line. They lose the puck on the left circle.
Cammalleri comes up with it quickly.
Canadiens slow. Flyers as well. The space and loosening gives Andrei an idea. Weaves. From his blue line. Through the neutral zone. Four in a box. Andrei is through. Slow and deliberate. Shot. Short side save. Beautifully slow stickhandling and on the replay we see how he put the puck between a Flyer defender, went around and picked it up again for the shot.
He watches from the bench now. Looking up at the scoreclock.
Asham has it on the hash to Halak’s right. To the point. They work the side area. They turn it over.
Montreal’s entry is similar. Right side mucking and a turnover after four seconds. Pace has slowed. Both teams.
Subban decides to carry it in on the left. He accelerates.
Past the hash. Shot. Nope.
Now Hamrlik presses from the right side. Advances. To the circles. Puck is there for him. Shoots. Traffic.
Flyers move it out.
Flyers are too casual.
Hartnell takes it up behind Halak. To the circle for Leino. Shot is high. Flyers control on the boards.
Good work from Hartnell. Briere is looking for a spot. Hartnell is hit and exaggerates his fall somewhat. Crowd responds lightly. No call.
Flyers shoot long after a re-entry. Halak smothers it. Stoppage and a small crowd. No pokes or punches.
Houde says that Chris Pronger has done a good job on Mike Cammalleri thus far. One shot and no goals in the last game. Three shots tonight, though.
Faceoff to Halak’s left.
Ville Leino sends a puck long. Intercepted.
Flyers re-enter. Briere on the left. Saucer pass leading Hartnell on the right. Hartnell loses the puck in the corner.
Mike Richards’ pass is intercepted on a Philly breakout.
Richards is hit hard and falls.
Spacek and Bergeron are paired. Lead pass. Cammalleri has it. To Gomez. In the corner. Hab in the slot.
Flyers are called.
Richards missed a check on Kostitsyn and took himself out. So he wasn’t hit.
Subban and Bergeron are on the blue.
Gomez and Metropolit are on. Blair Betts is following very effectively. Takes space away both at the point and the hash.
Bergeron puts a puck right on Giroux’ stick from the Montreal slot. I have had about enough.
Clears up his error and gets the puck without giving up a shot or possession.
Stoppage soon afterward.
We resume with forty seconds left in the penalty.
Hamrlik carries it up. Spacek is with him.
Plekanec, Cammalleri and Andrei K are on. Flyers clear.
Gomez and Tom Pyatt are on the ice. Quick change on the Montreal puck retrieval. Gionta is there, too. But the Flyers keep Montreal out and kill the penalty with hustle if not panache.
Ninety seconds left in the period.
Gorges and Gill. Moore line is on. Lapierre and Moen are with him. I’m not sure if Sergei has been deployed yet. Must have but the penalties took some five-on-five time away.
Habs enter. Andrei K tries a screened long shot, off-wing. Goes high. Great velocity for a wrister.
Gomez makes a move. Another. Shot. Wide. Habs keep it in for a moment on the blue line, Spacek but no Habs are there to support and the puck bounces in the high slot in front of two Flyers who exit. The remainder of the period is played on the boards.
Period ends.
Houde says that the score is the same but the Canadiens are far more involved than in game one. Brunet agrees.
Montreal led on shots 16-6.
First Intermission
Philadelphia 1, Montreal 0
Bachelor meal. Basil and garlic linguine. Chopped onions. Crushed chillies (this software is not going to dictate to me how I pluralize “chilli”) and olives. Temporary bachelor. Nine minutes.
Renaud Lavoie interviews Chris Pronger. Pronger is an experienced interviewee and knows how to come across in a personable, warm manner.
Second Period
Philadelphia 1, Montreal 0
Montreal’s showerhead offence is in. Lots of water but little targeting. Cammalleri’s shot goes high.
Gomez line follows.
Montreal carries the play. Bergeron gets a drop-pass and a shot. Now Spacek sends a shot-pass that curbs dangerously through to the crease.
Habs control continues. Flyers shoot it out. Montreal retrieves.
Moore line. Philly is content to lay on the ropes. Showercap is snug.
Stoppage in the neutral zone.
Cammalleri must be such a pleasure to coach. Quick shot of Montreal assistant Kirk Muller leaning forward behind the bench with some words for the NHL’s leading playoff goal-getter.
Another stoppage. Canadiens aren’t able to maintain the pressure. Faceoff is to Halak’s right.
Houde tells us that Montreal leads 20-6 on shots. He says it’s the formula in reverse.
One plus three equals four. Three plus one equals, uh, four. I’m in charge here.
Sergei is on with Andrei. It’s a late line-change, I think.
Houde remarks that the crowd is getting impatient. He adds that it appears that Philadelphia is willing to sit on a 1-0 lead.
Gagne enters on the left. Shoots high and wide.
Moments later Halak plays a puck standing to his defenceman. Left side of the net.
Carcillo starts a rush. To Timonen. Crosses the blue. Mild shot is gloved.
Whistle.
Faceoff to Halak’s right. Gomez wins the draw. Two quick passes and Montreal is across Philadelphia’s blue line. But they are out as quickly.
More luke-warm ice and pan.
Stoppage.
Flyers are very relaxed. A look across the bench area shows a team that might be leading 7-0. In a sense, they are.
Moore line. Moen tries a mash in the corner. Stood up. He falls.
Long puck from Philly.
Flyers are daring Montreal to create. It’s working for them. I’d say ‘hey, why not’ but I don’t believe in that kind of 1-0 play.
Giroux enters on the right. High shot. Halak shows the blocker. Raises it. It’s enough.
Canadiens send a puck long for icing. Cammalleri sent it and is admonished. Houde adds that Cammalleri is late in his shift and must be tired.
Plekanec line must stay on. They can’t get it out. Leino’s careless pass is intercepted by Plekanec and the Habs move it out for a line change.
Flyers breakout results in a three-on-two. One great pass. One good pass. But no finish in flame. Fanned?
No. Just too far. Right through the crease.
Now Asham is stopped on the off-wing on a sudden chance. That will get Halak in it.
Gorges and Pyatt enter. Third Hab. Puck is behind the net and bounces out. Gomez can’t get to it. He was the third Hab.
Giroux left the ice in some pain.
Martin calls a timeout. He is speaking annoyedly (Word? Not a word?) with his team. Hands on hips he surveys them and speaks to nobody in particular. I wonder how effective a Jacques Martin speech might be. I can only think of pastries. And aprons. Hmm.
We resume.
Canadiens enter quickly. Gionta. Fires just over the line.
Ten and a half minutes left in the second period.
Montreal is playing as they do against a weaker opponent in the regular season. Just giving the minimum. Just enough to match the opponent. Not all of them. But enough. Maybe New Jersey would have been a better opponent after all.
Stoppage after some casual hockey from both teams. Someone was booing. A loud, lonely voice. Mathieu Darche and Asham bump. Asham bumped Darche and then Darche bumped another Flyer. It settles quickly.
Cammalleri’s tongue hangs like a dog’s as he and Gionta watch from the bench.
Lapierre is working well on the backcheck. Flyers are in. Parent’s pass is snarled. Moore hits Leino in the corner. Gets away with it. Hit Leino while he was down. One of those pillow-push crosschecks.
Ref falls. Crowd cheers. Ref smiles and claps. Keeps smiling. Linesman, I mean.
Devorski’s brother perhaps. He’s a lineman tonight. (ed note: Greg Devorski is Paul Devorski’s younger brother)
Deep faceoff. Plekanec works around the net. Loses it. Flyers turn it over and Montreal exits. Three-on-two. Slows enough for Philly to match.
But Montreal keeps it in. Andrei K. Around the net. Backhand pass. Goes long through the slot and back between the two defenders.
Houde says that Plekanec was looking to the bench.
Pyatt sees Leighton glove a puck in his crease.
How can I be expected to furl when the tablecloth isn’t even in flame?
Just wax. Some banal heat. Sound of one pan falling. And not landing.
Metropolit line.
Thread doesn’t make a sound as it unravels sinister.
Long puck by Philly. Timonen does the hand-down Jordan gesture. Who is he advising?
Gomez, Gionta and Cammalleri. To Leighton’s left. Betts wins the draw. Canadiens jam the boards. Gomez can’t keep it in play.
Flyers bungle again.
Habs enter. Gomez on the left. Quick pass to his right. Cammalleri. Shoots from an area I have no business anticipating a goal from. I anticipate. The netting stays white.
Flyers exit. And bungle again. Well, that’s a reason, I’d be relaxed, too, I suppose. Philadelphia’s poor passing is a laxative.
Gionta is called for holding. Houde says it’s pretty evident. Replay shows it’s a fair call.
Gionta raises his head to the roof in disappointment as Mike Richard’s stick leaves his hands.
Flyers are running a bright, tight power-play. Where did these guys come from? Pacing of a boxer.
Cross-crease. Houde wails. Side-door goal is shunted somehow.
No more crisp passing. And now a Montreal clear.
It’s as if Philly is an old, creaky champion. The infrequent shuffle.
Shuffalo, orange glow, they score. Gagne and Richards combine. Crease bang.
Philadelphia 2, Montreal 0
Houde talks about medicine, lessons and eleven Flyer shots.
What does it take.
Champions win against their inferiors. Not just the elite.
Not that an eighth seed is a champion. Not yet, anyway.
Plekanec line.
But this is in some ways reminiscent of the regular season. Big win against this ogre, big win against that giant. And then tied to a tree by a crow.
Gomez takes a faceoff outside the Montreal blue.
Action flows down. Flyers retrieve. Coburn sends a free bag of sugar over to Cammalleri. Cammalleri waits. Crowd squeals. Shoots. Oy.
Moore and Lapierre are on with Cammalleri. Cammalleri is double-shifting. They impose their will. Moore misses an air-disc shuddering. Backhand swipe as he jetted next to the crease.
Long puck. Icing.
And another stoppage.
Metropolit. Moen with him. Spacek and Bergeron. Bergeron makes me exclaim. The subject wasn’t ice cream.
Cammalleri is back. Subban supporting. Entry is walled.
I don’t think Philadelphia can withstand Montreal. But Montreal has to, uh, do something.
It’s easy to underestimate the Flyers. Warts and ill-fitting equipment. They plod, joke and roughhouse. But their master has the right whips, the right morsels of tough meat.
Period ends. Small crowd. No escalation.
Montreal leads on shots 10-7.
Second Intermission
Philadelphia 2, Montreal 0
Somehow. Someone. Must convince Montreal that Philadelphia is better than Montreal is.
I don’t think a playoff series turns on such a need. It just doesn’t happen. Montreal is doomed.
Joel says the Canadiens are playing well. He shows some good defensive play by Philadelphia and says that this is a key to the game. Alain and Jacques agree that the Gionta penalty and special teams have been the linchpin (for doom) in the first two periods.
Joel adds that if the Flyers continue to play as they have that Montreal can come back and win.
Lavoie interviews Simon Gagne who agrees with Lavoie saying that the team is not satisfied and that Montreal is outplaying them five-on-five.
Third Period
Philadelphia 2, Montreal 0
Moore wins a draw after ninety seconds of perimeter play. Puck goes out of play seconds later.
What adjustments are we going to see?
Moore wins the draw again but is pushed off the puck.
Flyers have it behind their blue line. Long pass. Complete. Stopped at the Montreal blue.
Moen and Lapierre combine behind the end line.
Flyers puck. Plekanec extends a stick. Touches it but no interception.
Montreal turnover.
Andrei Kostitsyn says that the forward got away with one. Hooked Briere.
Habs wait for turnovers and effect rushes.
Subban glides on another level. Thru. Over. Shot. Not this time.
Plekanec rubs Timonen’s face into the ice. Once, twice. Now a third and fourth push. Nice and deep.
Timonen doesn’t like it. He punches Plekanec after the whistle. Now Hartnell bumps Plekanec. Plekanec is a thorn. I shake my head. And smile.
But the Flyers aren’t drawn into anything. And we resume with the formula. Flyers wait for Montreal to join the game offensively.
Canadiens are doing most things correctly and better than the Flyers. It just has to show up on the scoreboard. But Philadelphia’s defence has stayed in position and matched spots. And Leighton has been better than Halak.
But Subban had the right idea. It’s in the transition game that Montreal’s advantage is most apparent.
Once it slows to a half-court game, Philadelphia’s reach, savvy and patience make them the best post-season defensive team Montreal has faced.
Stoppage. Penalty. Houde thinks it’s against Gorges. Brunet corrects him.
Penalty is against Hal Gill. Legit call. Took down Carcillo in the slot.
Defence and discipline. Philadelphia can win the series without giving up a goal. If.
Power-play.
Eleven and a half minutes.
Halak follows a puck across the crease. It’s attached to a Flyer. Big-league orange. Big stop Slovak.
Deal.
Flyers are doing very little for the first minute.
Now Briere begins creating. Inside the Montreal blue line. Moving horizontally. Leaves it. A long shot is harmless.
Penalty ends with the Flyers attempting a reset.
Just under ten minutes.
Plekanec, Gomez and Cammalleri.
Leino enters on the left.
Shot. Innocent. Goal.
Halak should have had it. Screened wrister. Halak missed it with his mitt. Brunet says that he agrees with Houde that if Halak hadn’t touched it, the disc would have sailed wide.
Leino gets the goal. Crowd gets the drone. Big sound.
Philadelphia 3, Montreal 0
We resume. Halak makes a butterfly paddle down save. Now he gets a pad across for another shot. Boof.
Long puck. Icing.
What’s worse? Losing and deserving it? Or losing it and, uh, not deserving it?
Flyer two-on-one.
Pass across fails. Montreal deflection. Right onto a third Flyer stick. Shot fails.
How many games can you ask a team to forget? This one Montreal did not mail in.
Puck goes out of play after a failed Philadelphia incursion.
Flyers haven’t allowed a goal since the 17th minute of the first period of their seventh (and decisive) game against the Bruins last round.
Grim tidings, Pierre.
Seven minutes.
Gomez checks Mathieu Carle in the corner after he clears a puck to a defensive mate.
Crowd is on Halak. Just for a moment as he falls.
Subban carries it out. Follows it.
Leaves it for Lapierre and Moore. Wise timing.
Long puck. Houde is a bit surprised by the no-call on the icing. Subban is there to support a teammate.
Lines change.
Moore took a stick from Asham.
Takes another. Asham will go.
Another badly timed penalty from Asham. Could be worse. Say, the first minute of the first?
Another insipid commercial.
Elimination. A time when pianos and lawnmowing become appealing. When you tell friends that nothing matters.
We see the replay. We only see Asham’s actions. Did Moore do something earlier?
Montreal power-play. Five minutes and twenty seconds.
Again, my work here is done.
I watch the team move the puck around.
Bergeron’s long shot hops up and back. No sticks reply.
My work is done in the sense of remaining shaped like a trigger on a beanbag.
Montreal entry. They set up. Several good passes. Long shot from Subban. Leighton sees it all the way.
But the save is picturesque and my respect for this little-known Ontario ‘tender climbs yet again. He wears number forty-nine. I like that, too.
Briere gets a breakaway. Has two strides. Gets even faster. Tries to fire it thru Halak. Save. Puck stays in play. Subban is called for slashing.
Solve. That’s all that’s left. But this one is an offensive riddle.
Flyers go to the man advantage with three minutes left in the period.
Montreal gets the first possession. Plekanec wheeling and turning, followed by a lumbering shipyard square, posts of orange. It’s almost infuriating. Now he loses the puck.
But the Flyers can’t set up. And, hey.
They don’t have to.
Two minutes.
Some booing is heard. It carries for more than two seconds. I’m reminded that Montreal fans are permitted to buy tickets in that city.
Ok, ok.
Stoppage.
Brunet says some positive things about Philadelphia. He underlines the strong third period. He’s right on all counts.
Just over a minute.
Gomez line.
Spacek and Hamrlik back.
Spacek to Gionta in the Montreal slot. Gomez turns it over at the blue line. Long shot immediately. No.
Forty seconds.
Crowd gets unruly.
It becomes a cheer. It morphs into the Ole, Ole cheer. I smile. I shake my head and laugh. I should be annoyed.
But the clock runs out with a rueful half-grin on my face. No unsportsmanlike behaviour to close it out.
Philadelphia 3
Montreal 0
Philadelphia leads the best-of-seven series 2-0. Game three is on Thursday, May 20th in Montreal. Bell Central.
HDS Stars: Kimmo Timonen, Michael Leighton, Pernell Karl Subban
RDS Stars: Michael Leighton, Kimmo Timonen, Ville Leino
How can one be upset if the deserved result is deserved? Yeah, yeah. I giggle.
The better team won.
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