2010 Playoff Recap: From Heroes To Zeros

Philadelphia: 3 - Montreal: 0 (Flyers Lead Series 3-1)

So how do you people feel about Blackhawks vs Canadiens in the Stanley Cup final?  I mean, Montreal is down and staring at the end of their playoff run , so this is the beginning of the end for the Flyers right?

Ok, maybe not so much this time.

For a while, the Canadiens were playing well in game four and were showing just as much jump and energy  as the Flyers were and it felt like the game could go either way.  And then Claude Giroux scored five minutes into the second period to make it 1-0 and it was all life from the Canadiens players and their fans was sucked out of the Bell Centre.

Ville Leino's beautiful breakaway goal a little under ten minutes later felt like the huge pin that has blown up the Habs playoff bubble.  There was no return from that goal for the Habs in game four and there may be no return at this point in the sries.

Sure Montreal could come back like they did in the first two series...  Just like in the first two series all hope seems lost for the Canadiens as they look completely over-matched on the brink of elimination.  It's not like Jaroslav Halak has totally fallen apart or that Michael Cammalleri couldn't get hot scoring wise again...  So while I am ready to write off the Habs as easily as I have the Sharks, part of me is cautioning against such a move.

But then the Habs haven't been up against a goalie in a zone like Michael Leighton is.  They haven't played a defense as tough to play against as the Flyers are with the likes of Chris Pronger and Matt Carle.  They were having issues dealing with the likes of Mike Richards and Daniel Briere to begin with, but the Flyers added Jeff Carter back to the lineup in game four and got that much more tougher to handle.

And all of those facts seem to be very apparent to the Canadiens as they seemingly went through the motions in the second half of the game and what promised to be a very entertaining back and forth game became a Philly white wash.

Chicago and Philadelphia ..  You may as well start printing off the Stanley Cup final programs now.