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The Gazette

Too little too late

The Drive for 25; Price yanked after Canadiens fall behind 3-zip; Philadelphia 3 - Montreal 2

PAT HICKEY, The Gazette

Published: 5 hours ago

The Canadiens are trailing for the first time in this year's Stanley Cup playoffs because they're not doing the things that got them here.

The Habs dropped a 3-2 decision to the Philadelphia Flyers last night and that gave the home team a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal.

It would be easy to hang the loss on rookie goaltender Carey Price, who gave up three goals on the six shots he faced in the second period but coach Guy Carbonneau was correct when he said that the Canadiens lost as a team.

Font:****The Flyers have led by at least 2-0 in each of the three games and last night's game was a litany of missed opportunities, starting with a 5-on-3 advantage in the first period.

The Canadiens managed only one shot on goal during the advantage but what the statistics don't say is that Montreal had two excellent scoring chances during the two-man advantage.

The first came when Alex Kovalev pulled Philadelphia goaltender Martin Biron out of position and set up Christopher Higgins, only to have the snake-bitten Higgins fan on his shot. The second came when Andrei Markov's slapshot hit the post.

"The puck hopped over my stick when I had an open net and if I put that in, it's a different game" said Higgins. "It was that kind of night. We hit three posts in the first period.

"When you outshoot them 34-14, you've got to win the game," Higgins continued. "It was a tough game for Pricey and he didn't really get a whole lot of shots on net, but on the other end you don't know how much longer it's going to go with the chances we've had.

But there's also no doubt that he is rattled.

Halak would be a gamble if only because he hasn't played much, but this seems like the time to make a bold move before the series gets out of hand.

The Kate Smith myth: Part of Flyers lore centres on the team's success when the late Kate Smith sang God Bless America prior to big games at the Spectrum. The team tapped into the legend last night by having Lauren Hart sing a virtual duet with a tape of one of Smith's performances.

But Murray Wilson, the former Canadien who now serves as an analyst for CJAD, remembers at least one occasion when the Smith magic failed.

"She sang God Bless America before Game 4 in 1976," Wilson recalled. "The arena was dark and, when the lights came back on, there was (Canadiens general manager Serge Savard) with a dozen roses, which he gave to Kate Smith. She shouldn't have taken them, but she did, and then when she realized where they came from, she threw them out."

The Canadiens won that game to sweep the series.


linc

Sam Donnellon: Are the Flyers playing Canada's team?
By Sam Donnellon
Philadelphia Daily News


HILARIOUS article in the Philadelphia Daily News today. It should be re-titled, "Waaaahhh, my pussy hurts!"

Counting Kate Smith's blessings for Flyers
By PAUL VIGNA
Philadelphia Daily News

vignap@phillynews.com

Not only are these playoffs making the Flyers' penalty-killers work overtime. They're also giving Kate Smith's recording of "God Bless America" more playing time than it has gotten in years.

And on the eve of what would have been her 101st birthday (May 1), the team has an interesting decision tonight: Do you dare sit the most unique good-luck charm on the North American sports landscape?

"You try to be careful not to overuse it," Shawn Tilger, the senior VP of business operations, said yesterday, chuckling about how important that decision has become. "You don't want to use it to the point where it doesn't have an effect anymore."

If, as Tilger says, the fan response drives that decision by a select group of Flyers staffers, then it would be hard to imagine them not dusting Kate off again for another priceless duet with Lauren Hart, both of whom raise goose bumps with their renditions. "I get a couple e-mails a game from fans asking us to use it," Tilger said. "They're disappointed when we don't."

Twice during the regular season the team used the recording, in what Tilger called "must wins." It has preceded all four home games in the playoffs because, as Tilger notes, "they are all must wins in the playoffs." The Flyers are 5-1 this season when the recording is played, losing only Game 6 to the Capitals.

It's the most times "God Bless America" has preceded a Flyers game since the 1975-76 season, when the team went 4-2. Ironically, those two losses came in the Stanley Cup finals vs. Montreal. Smith's last of her four live appearances at the Spectrum came on May 16, 1976, a 5-3 loss that capped a Montreal sweep.

Back then, the Flyers turned to Smith as much as they did goalie Bernie Parent, "using" her 12 times in 1972-73, nine times in 1969-70 and eight times apiece in 1971-72 and the first Cup year (1973-74).

All of that history and the game-by-game breakdown can be found at flyershistory.com, an unofficial team site that Peter Anson, of St. Catharines, Ontario, has been updating for almost 10 years. He's fairly confident of the Flyers' overall record after Smith sings: 73-19-4 through Monday night. It's some of the specifics that are a bit clouded for someone who has gathered copies of all of the Flyers' game summaries.

"Sometimes they made notes, Kate Smith's record is such and such," he said by phone earlier this week. "But that didn't really start until '73 or so, where they would make a special note that Kate Smith's recording was used on the game sheet itself, on the notes. So the first 20 games or so you'll notice that I only have a handful of games."

Anson bases his total on newspaper stories that reflected Smith's early success: The Flyers were 19-1-1 at one point. While her tradition since has been passed along to new fans and the new players, her recording made fewer appearances after her last visit: nine times the rest of the 1970s, 11 times during the 1980s and nine times in the 1990s. It was used seven times this decade heading into this season.

Tonight would make it seven times this season. Overuse or riding a good thing? That's what the Flyers will determine by 4 p.m. today. *


click here

Sam Donnellon admitted in a column that he cried at the end of the movie Radio

Never looked at him the same again

SzR--- for what its worth;
Al Morganti, very good "hockey Guy" and NOT a Flyers fan whatsoever has the same take on this as I was trying to argue (?) with Glenn the other nite:

There's no conspiracey against the Flyers at all.

But there is this unspoken ration of crap that everyone playing Montreal has to deal with:

"The league takes care of it's own. It's not a Flyers thing, it's a Canadians thing. Whenever they're in it, they are granted a tremendous amount of leeway and they're absolutely going to get away with a ton of stuff that they will simply never call".

Thats from a non-homer, knowledgeable Hockey guy if not expert.

(Could also explain Melrose's otherwise inexplicable interest in seeing Philly eliminated-- just cos of who they're facin?).

Seth, you do know that Toronto and Montreal are bitter rivals and generally hate each other, right? You're also talking out of both sides of your mouth.

"There's no conspiracy, except the refs will try to make the Flyers lose," is basically what you are saying, or agreeing with. Well, which is it?

Why is Donnellon or anyone complaining about the Flyers getting a lot of penalty minutes as if this is some sort of new phenomenon? They've consistently been one of the dirtiest teams in the league this year.

Morganti's not a Flyers fan whatsoever? Come on.

How is Morganti not a Flyers fan? Honestly? That dude's been covering hockey in Philly for 25+ years, he's still a Bruins fan?

Never mind, I misinterpreted what you are saying regarding the conspiracy. But still, Toronto and Montreal are not buddy-buddy.

Morganti's livelihood depends on Flyers fans to a certain extent. He could either be pandering to his audience, or is actually a fan himself, both of which are probably true.

He is absolutely a B's fan.

He said this on CSN last nite.

And the mechanics of what Seth claims are so absurd. Imagine a ref sitting there watching a game and just mentally noting to himself the entire time to watch the boys in Black and Orange a little more closely and to give the boys in Red and Blue a smidge more slack. Seriously. Or is it a subconcious thing? That's even a dicier stance to take.

Seth, I think SZR's point is that it's very much in Morganti's interest to say to Flyer's fans what they want to hear. I guess it worked...

Flyers were #3 in penalty minutes this year. They probably led the league in suspensions, but I can't find that anywhere.

Right, when you play a tougher brand of hockey, you will accumulate more penalty minutes.

Watch the "sucker punch with intent to injure" clip. It's an open palmed face wash.

Watch the Hatcher hit. It's the most dangerous type of hit in hockey: a couple feet from the boards and from behind while making contact with the neck/head. Pronger got SUSPENDED for a very similar hit in last year's playoffs.

Hatcher is lucky to not be suspended for that. If the Montreal guy was hurt on the play, I'm sure he would have been.

SZR, just to clariy, are we on the same side here?

GGB, we are. It's a watershed moment.

NTF.

On a day like today where time's scarce, im goin to try my best to clear up what i meant- as its clear im still being misunderstood.

Mainly by GGB.

No ref is sitting there just WAITING to call PHILLY for something.

Morganti, (BTW- the notion that he said what he did to appease the Philly fans is laughable. Not only has he made it clear nearly WEEKLY when I used to listen that he's no fan of the common 'fan' here- he has so much goin on he needn't be worried about his Q rating here in town for his income) was citing a long held beleif among MANY hockey insiders, some of whom themselves are in fact canadian, that The Candadians always get away with stuff and are allowed to play a diferent game than whomever, WHOMEVER their opponent is.

Therien- ex Flyer yes, current Pats and Genos rabid customer by the looks of things and lifelong Canadian, said it was never in question when they played them.

Canadian players would even make quips about Canada's team" like I imagine the Boys of old did with regards to Americas Team.


Im not saying "Here comes the screw job Flyers fans!" Im saying "Im glad what I noticed has been observed by those with far more insight and experience with the game than I."

And SzR- we have diferent takes on the Hatch hit.
The 'victim' saw it coming and dips his head- so he wasnt caught by surprise, and not only was that not "Suspend" worthy, it never warranted a major.

Good job SzR- you're on the same side with a guy who admittedly didnt watch the game in which the Hatcher Deadly hit took place, nor the face washing, let alone the knee on knee hit or any other calls- both made and not called.

Enuff of this crap anyway- there's a game tonite and Id rather discuss that then sit here and defend the point of view I had, which was later backed up by a guy who played and is himself a canadian, as well as an expert with a lot of credibility.

Should be a barnburner tonight. Seth expect alot of texts

YAY!~ Does this make us BFF???

LOL!

How anyone can say Hatcher's hit was not a penalty is unfathomable to me. A major penalty? Open to interpretation, but the case can certainly be made. Probably not a suspendable offense, with that I agree.

OMFG Biron SOHH

I think everyone agreed from jump street that it was a penalty ENY, FWIW.

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