Habs Come Out Flat, Now Face Elimination-Flyers 3, Habs 0

The Montreal Canadiens picked a bad time to play one of their worst games of the playoffs. The Philadelphia Flyers played a near perfect road game and came away with a 3-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens. The win gave the Flyers a 3-1 lead in the best of 7 Eastern Conference finals and have now put the Canadiens in a must win situation for the final 3 games. After getting whipped in game 3, the Flyers made some changes and were able to neutralize the Canadiens speed in a big way. For the first time in the series the Flyers outshot the Canadiens with the final tally being 25-17. Michael Leighton picked up his 3rd shutout of the series. Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves for the Canadiens who gave up an empty net goal late in the 3rd. The Habs got off to a decent start, but a penalty half way through the period seemed to give the Flyers the momentum. They carried that momentum into the second where they scored 2 goals and limited the Canadiens to just 1 shot. Both Flyers goals came off a pair of Habs giveaways that could have been avoided. The Canadiens went 0/2 on the PP and killed off all 3 Flyers chances with the man advantage. Some other thoughts:

>The Canadiens entire defence corp had an off game. Their passes were off and they seemed to be jumping into the play and pinching a little too much. I would assume this was a coaching decision, but I'm not sure why they would be so agressive.

>The power play, without Markov, has been pretty bad. Markov is the quarterback and without him the Habs are having trouble opening up seems and controlling the play in the oppositions zone.

>The Canadiens forwards had some chances, but too often missed the net with their shots. It was a total opposite to what they did in game 3.

Montreal now finds themselves in a familiar position. They have faced elimination 5 times so far in these playoffs and lived to talk about it. They will have to fight off the Flyers the next 3 games if they want to extend their season. First things first, focusing on Monday nights game is now the key. The Silver Wolf Whiskey Hab of the Game goes to Max Lapierre. It was slim pickings tonight but Lappy led the team in shots and hits. Consideration also given to Moen and Metro. Game 5 goes Monday in Philadelphia.