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Canadiens ground Flyers 5-1 in Game 3

Flyers Canadiens Hockey

Montreal Canadiens’ Jaroslav Spacek, Tom Pyatt, and Roman Hamrlik, from right, celebrate a second-period goal by Dominic Moore, left, as Philadelphia Flyers’ Danny Briere skates during Game 3 of the NHL hockey Eastern Conference finals Thursday, May 20, 2010, in Montreal. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)

AP

Through the first three games of at least one series, we’re finally seeing a match where home ice advantage seems to really matter. Unless, of course, it’s a coincidence. Whether it’s home cooking or just increased urgency, the Montreal Canadiens flipped the script in just about every way against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 3. Montreal Canadiens 5, Philadelphia Flyers 1

Flyers lead series 2-1

It was a game of firsts. The Habs finally scored their first goal (plus four more) against Flyers goalie Michael Leighton. Montreal’s powerplay scored its first goal of the series, even if it happened on a meaningless late game 5-on-3, their second two man advantage of the game. The Flyers allegedly had their first fight of the playoffs, which is mind-blowing since ... you know, this is the Flyers. Finally, Montreal won their first game in which they out-shot their opponent (a Versus graphic indicates that they were 0-8 before tonight).

Somehow, though, Jaroslav Halak still lacks a postseason shutout. The still red-hot Simon Gagne scored an impressive, almost video game-like turnaround shot to ruin Halak’s goose egg attempt. My guess is that the Slovakian netminder is just fine with that since he only allowed one goal on 26 shots while his counterpart Leighton was bludgeoned for 5 on 38.

Don’t pin the blame on Leighton, though. The Flyers were out-shot and outplayed in every period. Chris Pronger had an ugly -3 game and his terrible turnover was responsible for Tom Pyatt’s game-winner. There was no doubt which team needed to win Game 3 as the Canadiens absolutely blew them out of their building.

The Habs are not strangers to coming back from series deficits as they’ve been down 2 games in every series so far. The Flyers are accustomed to their fair share of adversity, too, so don’t count either team out. Simply put, we have a series again. It should be interesting to see which team responds in Game 4, which by the way, will be carried by NBC on Saturday starting at 3 PM ET. Make sure to join us for a Live Chat and plenty of great coverage.