Conference Finals- Game 5 Preview: Staring Down Elimination... Again

Offence: Montreal needs to score goals... Montreal needs to score goals.  The Canadiens have have to use their speed advantage to get pucks in behind Philadelphia defence, just like they did so successfully in game 3.  It's also time for the skilled guys not named Brian Gionta or Mike Cammalleri to score.  Thomas Plekanec was the Habs leading scorer this season with 70 points, yet has just 4 assists in his last 12 games.  Plekanec, among others (Scott Gomez, Andrei Kostitsyn) have to do more.

Defence:  The defence has not played all that bad in game 4. Aside from P.K. Subban's misplay that led to Ville Leino's goal, Claude Giroux's goal may have been stopped by Josh Gorges had he not a skate problem.  Roman Hamrlik has been solid the whole series, and the defence in general has done a better job of allowing Jaroslav Halak to see the shots.

Goal: Halak has played well enough to win every game except game 1.  The only problem with Halak right now is that he can't score goals.

Lineup: Tom Pyatt didn't finish game 4 because of an upper-body injury.  If he can't go for game 5, Mathieu Darche or Sergei Kostitsyn will.

Conference Finals- Game 4 Recap: Shutout...Again

Montreal was shutout again by the Flyers 3-0 and go back to Philadelphia for game 5 facing elimination again.  The Canadiens had a solid first period when they outshot the Flyers 7-5, but couldn't apply any pressure in the final two periods. 

Offence: Montreal's forwards played a poor game in all areas, including faceoffs, where they lost 68% of the draws.  The Canadiens fired just 17 shots (only 1 in the second period) at Michael Leighton.  Mike Cammalleri got only 1 shot on goal, as Philadelphia were able to block 27 shots on the night.  Maxim Lapierre was the Habs most dangerous player, hitting the goalie 5 times in game 4.  Tom Pyatt missed the third period due to an undisclosed injury.  

Defence: The Flyers won the majority of the loose pucks against the Montreal defence and shutdown the breakout passes through the neutral zone that were so effective in game 3.  The Canadiens only managed to block 14 shots in game 4, again well below the standards set in the first two rounds.  Marc-Andre Bergeron actually had a decent night.  He wasn't on the ice for any of Philadelphia's goals, had 2 SOG, and made a nice play to foil the first empty netter attempt by the Flyers.

Goaltending: Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves and was solid once again in goal, and again had no chance to win due to an anemic offence.  Jeff Carter was allowed to walk through the defence on two occasions and was stopped by Halak both times.  On the first goal, Claude Giroux was left one on one with Halak because of a Josh Gorges wardrobe malfunction.  Halak was then run into the net by Ville Leino on the second goal, and the third goal was an empty netter.

Conference Finals- Game 3 Recap: Goals!

Finally! Montreal broke Michael Leighton's series shutout bid when Mike Cammalleri banged home a P.K. Subban rebound. The Canadiens proceeded to fill Philadelphia's net with 4 more goals enroute to a 5-1 win in game 3. The home ice win reduces the Flyers series lead to 2-1.

Offence: Tom Pyatt and Dominic Moore each had a goal and an assist on a night where Montreal outshot Philadelphia 38-28. The Canadiens were finally able to get some traffic in front of Leighton and knock in some rebounds.

Defence: Roman Hamrlik once again logged the most ice time for the Habs defence. Hamrlik collected 2 assists and finished +4 in his 23:06 on the ice. P.K. Subban turned in 3 assists and was a +3 on the night. Subban's 3 points puts him second in rookie playoff scoring behind Ville Leino. Montreal also shutout the Philadelphia powerplay on 3 chances after only killing 60% of penalties in the first two games.

Goal: Jaroslav Halak was solid in net, although it wasn't a particularly tough night for him. The Canadiens did a much better job of allowing him to see the majority of the 26 shots he faced.

The highlights:

Conference Finals- Game 2 Recap: No Goals Again

Another 3-0 shutout and Montreal is now down 2 games to Philadelphia.  The Canadiens came out the gate with a fury, outshooting the Flyers 16-6 at the first intermission.  The rest of the game followed a similar pattern with the Habs controlling the puck more, winning more faceoffs, getting more shots on goal and turning the puck over less.  Of course, all that doesn't mean shit if you don't score a goal.

Offence: Mike Cammalleri  led all forwards in TOI, logging 24:16.  Brian Gionta fired 8 shots at Michael Leighton after only getting 1 SOG in game one.  Leighton has made 58 straight saves during his shutouts in game 1 and game 2.  Montreal's forwards have to pick it up, especially guys like Thomas Plekanec, Scott Gomez and Andrei Kostitsyn.  None of these guys have scored a goal since round 1.

Defence: Roman Hamrlik led the defence again, playing almost 25 minutes and wasn't on the ice for a goal against.  Jacques Martin chose to leave Ryan O'Byrne out of the lineup again.  Eventhough O'Byrne would be the best defencemen to deal with Flyers forwards buzzing around Jaroslav Halak.

Goal: Halak let in three goals on 20 shots, the last one being extremely weak.  It didn't matter though, only the first one matters when your team gets shutout.

Quote: "You don't score, you don't win." -Scott Gomez

The lowlights:

Hablinks

• The Ottawa Senators really wanted Mike Cammalleri but settled for Alexei Kovalev instead.
• HNIC feature on Brian Gionta.
• Habs and Hawks in Original Six cup final?
• NHLPA feature on Hal Gill.
• Waazzuup Halak!
• Kirk Muller is head coach material.
• A retrospective on Habs- Flyers history.
• Another Georges Laraque commercial. 

Conference Finals- Game 1 Recap: Scorched!

For the first time in these playoffs the Canadiens did not show up to play and received an absolute routing at the hands of Philadelphia. Both teams were coming off of tremendous game 7 wins , but Montreal looked to take a break while the Flyers leveraged their momentum into a 6-0 win.

Offence: Montreal's snipers were stymied by the Flyers. Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta were both limited to a single shot.

Defence: P.K. Subban once again led the Habs defence in ice time but finished a -3 and chose some bad times to jump into the play and attack.

Goal: Jaroslav Halak only stopped 10 of 14 shots before being yanked in favor of Carey Price, who then allowed 2 more goals on the 11 shots he faced.

If you feel like it, the check out the lowlights below.