Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux scored two goals in the club’s Game 4 win.
The Philadelphia Flyers can advance to the Stanley Cup Finals by registering a home victory against the Montreal Canadiens in Monday's Game 5 of this best-of-seven Eastern Conference Final series.
The Flyers grabbed a 3-1 series lead Saturday by blanking the Habs as 120 road underdogs, 3-0. Philadelphia has now shutout Montreal in all three series wins. The combined three goals dipped below the five-goal closing total, leaving the ‘over/under' at a 2-2 split.
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The Canadiens fell apart in the second period when they were outshot, 13-1, and a couple of mistakes allowed the Flyers to take a 2-0 lead. Philadelphia finished with a 25-17 advantage in shots on goal.
Philadelphia's Claude Giroux scored the game's first goal after Kimmo Timonen picked off an errant pass from Maxim Lapierre in the neutral zone. Giroux took a pass from Timonen and skated in alone on Jaroslav Halak and scored his seventh goal of the playoffs at 5:41. Giroux also added an empty-net goal with 1:13 to play.
Ville Leino made it 2-0 when he scored on a breakaway at 14:53. Rookie P.K. Subban was trying to make something happen as he carried the puck into the Flyers' zone but he was caught out of the play when he found himself with no one on the receiving end of his pass. Chris Pronger picked up the loose puck and found Leino with a long, cross-ice pass.
The Canadiens had a couple of chances to get back into the game in the third period when they had their only two power plays, but managed only one shot on goal and failed to score. The Habs are now a measly 1-for-16 with the man advantage in the first four series games.
Philly netminder Michael Leighton picked up his third shutout of the series and this was certainly the easiest. Montreal managed only 17 shots on goal. Leighton is now 5-1 during the current playoff campaign and 21-6-2-0 overall. He also has a fine 2.25 GAA and a .925 save percentage.
The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play for the second straight time in Montreal. However, the Flyers went 4-10 with the man advantage in the first two series games in Philadelphia.
The faceoff battle was also won by the visiting Flyers by a wide 38-18 margin.
Philadelphia is outscoring the opposition at home by an average of 3.02 to 2.38 en route to a sparkling 30-15-1-1 home ledger. The margin is even more pronounced in the last five home games, where Philly is outscoring its opponents by an average of 3.40 to 1.60.
The Canadiens are 24-21-3-3 on enemy ice thanks to outscoring the opposition by a slim 2.39 to 2.38. Montreal has seen the ‘under' go 28-20 on the road.
If the Flyers can defeat Montreal in Monday's Game 5, they will advance to the Stanley Cup Finals to play the winner of the Western Conference final series between Chicago and San Jose.
Philadelphia has now gone 35 years since it last sipped from the Stanley Cup.