Habs Bullied to Defeat

Special teams play a vital role during NHL playoff hockey. Patience is a character trait that will come up huge as well.

For the Philadephia Flyers, it did not take long for the team to take full control of game one for the title that will come known as the Eastern Conference Champion.

Ville Leino, who was the reason the Flyers started the scoring as early as they did, was patient with the puck on his stick just outside of the crease setting up for what would lead to defenseman Braydon Cobrun’s power-play goal. The early tally would be all that was needed in this one as the scoring scoring early would come often for the Flyers.

The Montreal Canadiens, simply put, came out flat in game one. They could not keep up with the forecheck of Philadelphia, or their speed. What has brought the team so far during these 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs was completely invisible last night.

In such a lopsided affair, one would expect the fingers to be pointed in one direction. In this case, for the Canadiens, it was a team that did not look prepared for the battle that was about to begin.

After scoring first, it seemed as if the Canadiens would escape the first period with an opportunity to gain momentum heading into the second.

Discipline cost them throughout the second period.

After an early second period defensive zone draw that was lost outright by Scott Gomez, Claude Giroux found the puck as he skated around Gomez off the draw and slid it to the stick of rookie James van Reimsdyk who netted his second goal of the playoffs and the second goal of the game for the Flyers just thirty seconds into the second period.

From that point forward, it was truly all she wrote.

Frustration would set in and Maxim Lapierre would be called for roughing at the 2:22 mark of the period. As the penalty expired, Danny Briere found himself wide open in a shooting lane with Scott Hartnell screening goaltender Jaroslav Halak. As he wound up, vision would be lost by the Canadiens netminder; 3-0 Flyers.

It would not register as a power-play goal but the discipline level of Montreal had cost them yet another goal.

Under three minutes later, Andrei Kostitsyn would be called for boarding, leading to another Philadelphia power-play in the period.

The ensuing man advantage would lead to the icing on the cake in this contest.

Simon Gagne’s power-play goal would also lead to head coach Jacques Martin pulling Halak in place of Carey Price.

Hoping to give his team some life in moving forward, it was a move Martin had to make. However, the blame can not be placed on Halak. Yes, he did not look as comfortable and as poised as he has throughout these playoffs, but the blame does not get placed on him.

The Habs can not feed into Philadelphia’s style in this series. Giving a team with many offensive weapons, such as the Flyers, the man advantage six times in one game will easily haunt your team as the game goes on.

Instead of gaining any confidence to build from heading into game two, the Canadiens continued on their downward spiral in game one.

After Price entered the game, he was quickly tested and seemed to be able to take the Flyers offense and give it a sleeping pill. Flyers captain Mike Richards found a lose puck at the side of the net and was able to skate in on a mini-breakaway that would be denied by Price. That moment would bring hope in the hearts of the Canadiens and their fans.

That hope lasted until the third period.

Not missing a beat for the entire game, the Flyers offense came out in the third period as it did in the prior two. Scott Hartnell and Claude Giroux would add goals in the closing stanza, helping Philadelphia embarrass the Canadiens by a final score of 6-0.

However, for those who feel this is the end of Montreal, think again.

It was only two weeks ago when the Canadiens opened their semi-finals series with the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Game one was a nightmare. Montreal fell to the Penguins 6-3, with Halak getting yanked in that contest.

The next game, Halak and company shut the door on Pittsburgh as the Habs skated away with a 3-1 victory.

Game two will be the game to dictate this series.  If the Habs come out as they did yesterday, looking like a team that simply had the fire burn out, this series will end with what will seemingly be the blink of an eye.

For Montreal, Halaks maturity will be a key factor into his rebounding for game two.  All goalies are entitled to a bad game, heck, even one a series in the playoffs.  Especially a goaltender like Halak, who can go from average to elite within a one game turnaround time.

And yes, this means that even with Halak looking somewhat fatigued and simply out muscled in this one, he will be the go to guy for game two.

A stat that the Canadiens will hope holds true for these Conference finals.

As bad as this game looked for Montreal, it was not the worst of their playoff history. A history which is very long. On March 19, 1919, Montreal suffered a worse playoff shutout loss: 7-0 to Seattle.

Sure, that was many lifetimes ago for some, if not most, of us. However, as statistics show, potential remains for Montreal to bounce back.

Jaro Halak is 7-1-1 throughout his career in starts after being pulled including being 2-0 in this year playoff’s.

As if coaches do not preach it enough, the Habs need to cut the penalties in half for game two. If not, it is only a matter of time before they give their exit interviews to end the season.

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