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*** PostGame Interviews & Coach’s Press Conference ***
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Montreal, QC (Sports Network) – Martin Biron made 24 saves and the Philadelphia Flyers snapped a seven-game losing streak against Montreal with a 2-1 win over the Canadiens at the Bell Centre.
Scottie Upshall and Jeff Carter each scored a goal for the Flyers, who last defeated Montreal in the regular season on November 25, 2006. Mike Richards and Simon Gagne had the primary assists for Philadelphia, which had dropped four of five coming into the game.
Alex Tanguay scored the lone goal while Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves in the loss for the Canadiens, who have dropped four of five.
The Flyers came out of the gates flying and put early pressure on Price, but the goaltender made the saves when he was called.
After a heavyweight fight between Josh Gratton and Georges Laraque, which Laraque clearly won, momentum switched to Montreal and the team had three power plays awarded over the next several minutes, but Biron made several nice stops to keep the scoreboard clean.
After 20 minutes of play, Biron had made 10 saves while Price finished with nine.
The Flyers made it a 1-0 game 5:30 into the second period. Richards had the puck along the left boards and threw a shot out front that Upshall was able to tip past Halak for his second goal of the season.
Philadelphia then made it a 2-0 game a bit over 10 minutes later. Braydon Coburn hit Gagne with a pass near the Montreal blueline and, from just inside the Montreal zone, Gagne sent a lead pass to Carter, who skated in alone and snapped a wrister into the right corner of the net
The Flyers almost had another goal at the end of the second period as the puck crossed the line, but it was just moments after the horn sounded and after initially being called a goal on the ice, the review showed that to not be true.
Montreal kept trying to get shots on net in the third period, but the Flyers did a good job of blocking shots in front of Biron.
The Habs appeared to get on the board halfway through the third as Tanguay knocked the puck out the air from a sharp angle, but the net was off its moorings and the goal was called off.
However, just moments later, Montreal did get on the board as a centering pass from Saku Koivu from behind the right side of the net was tapped in by Tanguay to make it a 2-1 game with 10:16 to play.
Carter was called for hooking with 3:11 to play to give the Habs a man advantage, but Philadelphia was able to kill it off.
Halak was pulled from the net with under a minute to play for the extra attacker, but Philadelphia was able to keep Montreal from any good scoring chances to hold on for the win.
Game Notes
Despite the losing streak, Philadelphia did defeat Montreal in the second round of the playoffs last season…Philly hosts Atlanta on Sunday…Montreal begins a three-game road trip in St. Louis on Sunday…Montreal has still won 11 of the last 14 overall against Philadelphia…Neither team scored on the power play as Philly had two chances and Montreal had four.
Content Copyright 2008, The Sports Network. Distributed by XML Team Solutions.
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Scoring
Philadelphia Flyers:
1. S. Upshall (2) (M. Richards (14), A. Alberts (2)) 5:30 2nd Pd
2. J. Carter (11) (S. Gagne (9), B. Coburn (5)) 15:36 2nd Pd
Montreal Canadiens:
3. A. Tanguay (8) (S. Koivu (9), F. Bouillon (1)) 9:44 3rd Pd
Penalties
Philadelphia Flyers:
J. Gratton (Fighting) 2:54 1st Pd
L. Sbisa (High-sticking) 5:02 1st Pd
S. Hartnell (Interference) 9:38 1st Pd
L. Kukkonen (Delay of Game) 11:44 1st Pd
J. Carter (Hooking) 16:49 3rd Pd
Montreal Canadiens:
G. Laraque (Fighting) 2:54 1st Pd
R. Lang (Tripping) 5:27 1st Pd
T. Plekanec (Boarding) 15:15 1st Pd
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 15th, 2008 at 11:03 PM and is filed under Braydon Coburn, Flyers, Game Recaps, Jeff Carter, Josh Gratton, Martin Biron, Mike Richards, Montreal Canadiens, Regular Season, Scottie Upshall, Simon Gagne.
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