Giving the Flyers their due

May 4, 2008   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

By show of hands, who had the Flyers going to the Conference Final four wins away from their first Stanley Cup Final in 11 years? I doubt there were many takers. Though our newest Flyer supporter would beg to differ since he did accurately predict Philly to eliminate the Canadiens. That it took one less game speaks to just how well they played.

If Martin Biron is playing great, then R.J. Umberger is on a roll. He absolutely owned the Habs scoring eight goals in the series to hike his goal total to nine. It was almost as dominant as Johan Franzen’s nine in a sweep of Colorado. Sad fact. The Avs totaled nine goals.

Back to R.J. How in the world didn’t the Canucks or Ranger get this guy signed? You’re telling me they couldn’t have used a solid all around two-way center who is an outstanding skater with a deadly shot? Did we mention he’s a relentless forechecker? Umberger has emerged from a fourth liner to a second line player who’s now getting big minutes and flourishing. Kudos to overestimated Philly coach John Stevens for the wise move. Early in the series, you could see that the kid’s speed was giving the Canadiens fits.

If you’re going to go deep into the postseason, your best players must be your best players. Night in and night out, Daniel Briere has earned his hefty paycheck by scoring big goals. His power play winner the other night as it turned out was Montreal’s last gasp. Sure, they led 3-1 and had it going their way until a less confident looking Carey Price let in a couple of more soft ones to suddenly put his team in a 4-3 hole entering the third. Speaking of which, might Guy Carbonneau’s questionable decision to bench his 20 year-old rookie have hurt the No.1 goalie even more? Or was there something else bugging him? What was wrong with his glove hand? It sure wasn’t the glove cause they tried a new one and it was the same brutal result. Another story for another day. 

Props also go out to the Montreal fans for how they cheered their guys at the end of the game. That final minute was really cool. You probably wouldn’t see that in a lot of other arenas. They weren’t supposed to be in this position and were picked by many including by myself to finish near the bottom of the East. Maybe that was the problem because the expectations suddenly went from making the playoffs to winning the Northeast and people including again yours truly thinking they could actually go to the Cup.

Or perhaps Canada really is hexed after all.

The Flyers have played rambunctious hockey and deserve to be where they are. They have been a fun team to watch. That’s not very easy to say for a rival fan but it’s the truth. They have attacked and been rewarded. It helps that they got tireless forwards like Umberger, Briere, Mike Richards and the fast emerging Jeff Carter.

What the Philadelphia organization learned in the worst season in franchise history was that if they retooled by pawning off Peter Forsberg, they could compete. Was it a bit poetic that Scottie Upshall would wind up with the series clincher? He was part of what came back. Just wait till Ryan Parent develops and we’ll really be laughing at that trade. Well, the rest of the Atlantic won’t.

Neither are they about former Preds Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell fitting in as key cogs on a team which looks poised and deep enough to actually do this. Yes. I’m saying they can win the whole thing. That might be bad news for them.

How do you think Kevin Lowe feels about giving away Joffrey Lupul and Jason Smith for the overrated Joni Pitkanen right about now? That Braydon Coburn pickup for Alexei Zhitnik was also a theft. The Vaclav Prospal trade also ain’t looking bad either.

Has there been one bad deal new GM Paul Holmgren made? My god. Simon Gagne’s career is likely over and it suddenly doesn’t matter because that’s how deep they really are. Mike Knuble can still play also. Funny how my Dad nailed that one indicating that he thought the ex-Ranger could become a 25-30 goalscorer.

The Flyers are even getting mileage out of old school defenseman Derian Hatcher.

You have to give them a lot of credit. They almost didn’t make the playoffs but got hot at the right time. Sometimes, that’s all it takes.

Congrats to them on their run thus far. They’ve earned it.