AAAARREEEE YOU READY FOR SOME FLYERS PLAYOFF HOCKEY?!
After sweeping the round robin and rightfully earning their place at the top of the east, the Flyers are getting ready to face the Canadiens in a best-of-seven series.
There’s a feeling of excitement heading into this series, one that hasn’t been present for quite a few seasons, making the anticipation build even more.
On Tuesday, Jakub Voracek even noted that he could sense this year — and this team — are different than past years.
“I think this is the best team I’ve been on since I came to Philly,” Voracek said.
Considering Voracek was also a part of the 2011-12 squad that posted 103 points and had teammates like Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Jaromir Jagr, Wayne Simmons, Danny Briere and Kimmo Tomonen (and a young James van Riemsdyk and Sean Couturier!) — that’s some pretty high praise.
So, with an exciting team and a pretty thrilling matchup on the horizon, I figured we needed to look back to the last time the Flyers and Canadiens met in the playoffs. You know, see if anything was highlight-worthy to get everyone excited.
NHL
Oh yeah — how about one of the best playoff shifts in Flyers franchise history.
If you search Mike Richards in the YouTube search bar, the first option that pops up has “the shift” at the end. Rightfully so.
Let’s go back to May 24, 2010. It was Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, just four minutes into the first period and the Flyers already found themselves on the penalty kill. Luckily for them, they had Richards — who was an absolute unit on special teams.
About 45 seconds had passed on the Canadiens’ power play, when Marc Andre-Bergeron received the puck at the top of the point. Before he could even gather his thoughts, he was met by Richards who steamrolled over him.
This hit gave the Flyers a 3-on-1 fast break — and while Jaroslav Halak denied Richards, he also deflected the puck in perfect fashion, giving the Canadiens a shot to break into the offensive zone and make a push on their own.
It didn’t take long for the Flyers’ captain at the time to start dismantling his opponents once more. As Bergeron readied to cross the Flyers’ blue line, Richards was right there and prepared to cause more chaos. A stick lift distracted Bergeron just enough to give Brayden Coburn a key opportunity to lay another hit on the Canadiens forward.
(Less than ideal shift for Bergeron — but that’s more on what Richards did right, rather than what he did wrong.)
With a battle in the corner to gain possession of the puck, you notice Richards sneak away and find space in the neutral zone. Finally, Giroux gets control of the puck and lobs it to center ice. Richards and Roman Hamrlik raced for the puck and were surprisingly met by Halak, who was too far from the net for comfort — if you were a Canadien, that is.
Richards dove in an attempt to knock the puck out of the path of the charging goaltender — and in what should have been a collision of the three players, No. 18 snuck out without a scratch.
Suddenly, he had a clear path to a wide open net and was able to tie the game. The Flyers went on to win the game, the series and advanced to the Stanley Cup final.
You know what, reading about it is fun, but watching it is just much more thrilling:
… And this all happened in the span of 30 seconds.
Playoff hockey, there’s absolutely nothing like it.
The Flyers open their series against the Canadiens Wednesday at 8 p.m. on NBCSP.
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