Flyers chase Halak in 6-0 Game 1 victory
PHILADELPHIA — Up by four goals with a period to go, the Philadelphia Flyers were not going to be caught napping.
The Flyers know all about comebacks, and their stunning rallies days earlier were so fresh in their minds that the Montreal Canadiens didn't have a chance to rebound.
Michael Leighton made sure they didn't even score.
After a stirring Game 7 win over the Boston Bruins that capped a comeback from three games down, the Flyers scored early against Jaroslav Halak and the Canadiens and rolled to a 6-0 win in the opener of the Eastern Conference finals on Sunday night.
"At 3-0, we had a chance to go on the power play and make them pay on that. And we did," forward Simon Gagne said. "Even when it's 3 0, you never know in hockey what can happen.
"It's only one game. This one is done now. We have to focus on Game 2."
Leighton was strong in a slow-starting first period for the Flyers and finished with 28 saves in his first NHL playoff shutout. James van Riemsdyk, Danny Briere and Gagne scored in a span of 9:23 in the second period to turn it into a rout.
"It makes it a little bit easier when we score that many goals," Leighton said. "In the second period, we played really well. We got a few goals and that kind of calmed me down and I think it calmed the team down. It took a lot of pressure off us."
There would be no comeback necessary this time for the surging Flyers, who bounced back from a 3-0 series hole against the Bruins and a three-goal deficit in Game 7 in Boston on Friday night. Philadelphia has won five straight and is 5-1 in the playoffs in front of its orange-clad crowd.
"We know they're going to come back a lot better, a lot stronger in the next game," Briere said. "The goal was to keep home-ice advantage — win the two games. We're just halfway there."
Halak was easily outplayed by Leighton, who is unbeaten since replacing the injured Brian Boucher in Game 5 of Philadelphia's win over Boston.
Game 2 of the NHL's first final four matchup between a No. 7 and No. 8 seed will be Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
Defenseman Braydon Coburn scored his first NHL playoff goal during a first-period power play, van Riemsdyk pushed the lead to 2-0 just 30 seconds into the middle frame, and Briere and Gagne — on another power play — beat Halak 5:30 apart.
"They probably had the scouting report and knew Halak was playing well. Creating traffic is the only way to beat a goalie playing good," said Canadiens backup Carey Price, who allowed third-period goals to Scott Hartnell and Claude Giroux.
Since falling behind 3-0 in the first period of Game 7 at Boston, the Flyers have outscored opponents 10-0. Leighton will take a shutout streak of 105 minutes, 50 seconds into Game 2. Not bad for a guy who sat out because of an ankle injury from March 16 until May 10.
He has allowed only four goals on 98 shots in four games since taking over for Boucher, who is likely out for the postseason with a knee injury.
