PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in the Eastern Conference finals to earn the right to play for Lord Stanley’s Cup against the Chicago Blackhawks by winning the series over Montreal in five games. Brian Gionta scored 59 seconds into the game thanks to a nice give and go with Scott Gomez, who was skating down the right wing, beating Philadelphia goaltender Michael Leighton for a quick 1-0 lead. The Flyers quickly changed the momentum when Mike Richards chased the puck down the ice during a shorthanded situation, collided with Jaroslav Halak and Canadiens defenseman Roman Hamrlik at the same time and all three ended up on the ice. The puck somehow got by everyone towards the Montreal net. Richards got up and beat everyone to the puck and put it in the net to tie the game at 1-1. The Flyers broke the game open 3:07 into the second period when Matt Caryle kept the puck in the offensive zone and passed the puck to a wide open Arron Asham in front of the Montreal net. Asham went backhand to forehand and shot high over Halak’s left shoulder for the 2-1 lead. Richards and Jeff Carter worked some magic 1:27 later when Richards went behind the net and fed Carter who quickly shot the puck past Halak for the 3-1 lead. Montreal called a time out and the team appeared to settle down but the Flyers outplayed the Habs the rest of the period . Gomez got the Habs back into the game 6:53 into the third period when P.K. Subban went behind the Flyer’s net and backhanded a pass to Gomez who came into the slot area and wristed a shot past Leighton to get the Habs to 3-2. Montreal had a great opportunity to tie the game when Chris Pronger had a double minor for high sticking, but the Flyers penalty killing unit was up to the task and kept the Canadiens from scoring. Richards willed the Flyers to win by beating Tomas Plekanec to the puck in the Montreal zone with 23 seconds left to play. While on the ice, his pass deflected off of a defender and went to Carter who slid the puck past another defender and into the empty net to finished off the scoring and the Canadien’s season. Philadelphia will now take on the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup finals with the Blackhawks hosting Games one, two, five and seven of the finals with games three, four and six in Philadelphia. NBC will telecast games one and two and, if necessary, games five through seven while VERSUS broadcasts Games three and four. NHL.com will continue to provide extensive digital coverage. Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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