NHL News and Notes Saturday 5/22

What bettors need to know: Flyers at Canadiens

Die hard Habs

After many hockey bettors wrote the Montreal Canadiens off after losing the first two games of the Eastern Conference final, the Habs fired back with a 5-1 victory at home in Game 3.

“I think our whole team played well,” Montreal defenseman Roman Hamrlik told the Montreal Gazette. “We did some good things in the first period of the first two games but tonight we got a lead and we kept skating.”

The Canadiens jumped out to a strong start, scoring two goals on 17 shots in the first period - their first two goals of the series. From there, the flood gates opened. Montreal would add three more goals and finishing the game with 38 shots on goal.

Struggling stars Michael Cammalleri and Brian Gionta finally got on the score sheet versus the Flyers. Cammalleri opened scoring in the first period, netting his 13th maker of the playoffs, while Gionta notched his eighth goal of the postseason two minutes into the final frame.

“Yeah, don’t get me wrong, it felt good and we needed to score,’’ Cammalleri told reporters. “But I think the result really drives the talk. So I think we did some things OK in the last game too (but) I think we lose 3-0, and it’s our second game without scoring. So for everyone in this room and for everybody watching it’s a big deal, and it’s something to really talk about.

“But for us, we like the way we play, and we thought the goals were going to come. I just think that so much is made of the result that ends up determining the way you guys analyze the game. Sometimes for us it’s more important to worry about how we’re playing than scoring the goal. The goal goes in and it helps, but we know it’s coming.”

Trading places

If any team in the NHL should know that it ain’t over till it’s over, it’s the Philadelphia Flyers.

"Playoffs are never about momentum," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette told the Ottawa Sun. "They're always about desperation. Desperate teams are tough teams."

Philadelphia lost the first three games to the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference semifinals only to win four straight and advance to the conference championship. After taking a 2-0 lead in this series, the Flyers hope Game 3’s loss doesn’t snowball like it did to the Bruins.

“That was an old-fashioned ass-kicking,” captain Mike Richards told reporters. “They handed it to us right from the get-go. I don’t know if we felt we were going to put our sticks on (the ice) and it was going to be easy.”

Philadelphia mustered 26 shots Thursday night, with only eight in the third period. The Flyers have made the most of their chances versus the Canadiens. They’ve scored 10 goals on just 74 total shots through the first three games of this series.

On the other end of the ice, Philadelphia’s blueline was nowhere near the level it was in the first two games. The defense looked lethargic and slow getting to pucks, allowing the Montreal fore-check to control the play and generate chances.

The Flyers admitted to getting pushed around by the Canadiens and let their frustrations get the best of them. They took six penalties in the third period, eventually leading to Marc-Andre Bergeron’s power-play goal with just under 30 seconds remaining in the game.

"I don't think you want to forget it," veteran defenseman Chris Pronger told the media. "I think you need to use it and feed off it - use it as a wakeup call or whatever you want to call it. We need to understand it's going to take a lot more than we showed out there today to be successful."

Halak back, Leighton lost

Canadiens goaltender, appointed postseason savior, was back to his old tricks again in Game 3, after struggling in the opening games of the series.

Halak stopped 25-of-26 shots faced Thursday night, improving to 9-6-1 in the playoffs. His performance in the conference final has been the flip of Flyers goaltender Mike Leighton, who opened the series with back-to-back shutouts, but gave up five goals on 38 shots in Game 3.

Leighton suffered his first defeat of the postseason since stepping in for injured starter Brian Boucher in the second round. Although Thursday’s performance couldn’t fall solely on Leighton, with his blueline playing so poorly.

"I felt OK. I'm not going to dwell on them scoring that many goals," Leighton told the Philadelphia Daily News. "We didn't think we were going to win this series 4-0 so we're just going to regroup. They're back in the series and the next game's big for us."