Flyers Blank Habs Again: The Script for Game Two

Two games are on the books and one finger on the panic button.

The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 in game two of the Eastern Conference final and now travel to Montreal with a 2-0 lead to face the Habs Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

The Habs looked better than they did in game one, putting more pressure on Michael Leighton’s net, but still haven’t scored their first goal of the series. On the other hand, Philly has put in nine unanswered goals.

Leighton earned his second consecutive shutout.

Danny Briere opened the score almost five minutes into the game with a laser from the slot after a Scott Gomez penalty.

In the second period, Simon Gagne, another Quebec native, profited from a goalmouth rebound from Jaroslav Halak to put the second goal on the board for the home team, which was also scored with the man-advantage.

Midway through the third period, Ville Leino stretched the lead for the Flyers with a shot from the circle which trickled past Halak. An ugly goal allowed by the best goaltender so far in the playoffs.

Now, here is the game’s script:

The main characters: 

The Hero: Michael Leighton

Sure he looked better than he really is, but the guy put the pads where he needed to, caught the puck when it threatened to beat him, and managed to keep his crease rebound-free.

Leighton seemed calmed in front of the net and received the support from his defense. Not that the Habs tried too hard, though.

The goalie now has back-to-back shutouts and a grand total of 165:50 minutes without letting the puck in. Many have already dared to draw a parallelism between Leighton and Halak, two underdogs that have become the story of the playoffs.

The Villain: Jaroslav Halak

He gets the credit for being one of the main reasons the Habs have made it so far, but right now he’s out of his zone. Jaro has made 30 saves in 37 shots so far in this series for a save percentage of .810.

He wasn’t comfortable in the crease, and the lack of support in front of him made things even more difficult. He didn’t bounce back after a bad game like he has before. On the contrary, he ended up allowing an ugly goal, his weakest so far in the postseason.

That third goal completely deflated the Canadiens.

Philly’s forwards seem to have found a way to beat the best goalie of the 2010 playoffs. They’re crashing the net and shooting high, creating traffic and playing smart on the powerplay.

The Sidekick: Danny Briere

Briere only needed one shot on goal to stretch his point streak to six games. Last night, he scored his ninth of the playoffs with a perfect snapshot from the slot after decking Hal Gill.

The Gatineau native has been a constant threat, attacking the net from all sides. He’s the type of players that can have a great game without flooding the score sheet with numbers.

His speed brings balance to the Flyers’ offensive corps. Briere has done a great job in the absence of guys like Jeff Carter.

The Extra: Marc-André Bergeron

When asked, coach Jacques Martin always says that Bergeron’s offensive abilities are the main reason why he sees so much time on ice. Fact is, the defender spent most of the time setting the play, passing around the puck around, and not shooting, especially on the powerplay.

His puck handling is far from great and his constants giveaways have led to many scoring chances for the Flyers.

In terms of defense, he’s been constantly outmuscled and had trouble carrying the puck out of the Habs’ zone. He’s skating on thin ice and is one of the candidates to spend one game in the press box.

Key moment in the plot: Scott Gomez’s penalty

Gomez took an unnecessary hooking penalty only two minutes into the game, just like he did in game one. Danny Briere would turn the man-advantage into Philly’s first goal and set the pace for the rest of the game.

The early goal drained all the momentum out of Montreal and changed their gameplan. The Habs never found a way to respond and ended up choking with frustration.

Game notes:

- Montreal is now 0-5 in the playoffs when outshooting their rival.

- Jaroslav Halak’s career record against the Flyers is 3-5, three of those losses have been in playoffs games.

- The last time Tomas Plekanec, Montreal’s best player in the regular season, scored was in game six of the first round against the Capitals.

The quotes:

“It was an even game. Take away those (power-play goals), do a little better job on the PK and we're right in it." – Hal Gill.

“Special teams (were) the difference tonight” – Jacques Martin.

“They were down 3-1, 3-2 against very good teams before. So we're not going to sit back. We saw what we were able to do to Boston. So the worst thing we could do right now is sit back” – Danny Briere.

“He was very calm in there, very relaxed, and in complete control of that net and everything that went on around it.” – Peter Laviolette, on Michael Leighton’s performance.

All quotations from NHL.com game recap.