Stanley Cup Playoffs: What Happened in Habs-Flyers in Game 1?

Honestly, The Flyers have it deep on offense and defense.  They have the larger bodies, not only to take the smaller Habs roster into the boards (and hard), but also to really make Halak's life hell in front of the crease while preventing the Habs from crowding the net.

This is the first time that the Habs played a much bigger and stronger team and with the return of Gagne, the lines are that much deeper. Laviolette loves to mix up the lines and they seem to play well together giving the opposition a different look.  

Game One was the perfect example.  

There is only one Habs player that is under six feet tall and over 200 lbs.—that player being Scott Gomez. The Flyers have three players that match this description.

Players like Brian Gionta, who is 5'7" and weighing in at 173, were not a major factor in Game One as Leighton, at 6'3" was able to easily look over his head to see where the puck was. Plus, Gionta's small size was not a problem for defensemen like Pronger, Coburn, and Carle to keep away from the net.

Goalie Leighton has really stepped it up for the Flyers with a 1.12 GAA in the four games he has played and he made some key saves that helped the Flyers survive their series in Boston to make history.

He continued on to win in his first career playoff shutout in Game One against the Habs. Personally, if Boucher had not been injured, I think the Eastern Conference Finals would have featured the Bruins and the Habs.

But...this is Game One. There is nothing cemented yet. The Habs got beaten soundly in Game One of the series against the Pittsburgh Penguis and they came back to win it after being down three games to one. If the Habs can adjust and find a way around this roadblock, then the series is going to be that much more interesting. If not, my prediction is Flyers in five.

This is Cory Ducey saying "Hit Hard, But Keep It Clean "