Eastern Semis Game 3: Canadiens at Flyers (1-1)

Carey Price v. Martin Biron

Across the league's four playoff series, this is the only one even at one. Out west, Detroit and Dallas have dominated Colorado and on this side of the cost, Pittsburgh has taken control of the Rangers. With the way these two teams played in round one, everyone should have been expecting a tight series.

Martin Biron was much better in game two. He made some incredible saves and really closed the door on Montreal when they began threatening.

How have the Flyers been able to generally control play so far? Montreal was the better team in the regular season, and they proved it head-to-head. However, most objective observers would say that the Flyers have been better in this series. One reason has to be the quick starts. They've gotten off to 2-0 leads early in each game, and although they coughed it up in game one, it can't hurt to force a team to play catch up like that.

A lot of people still bring up the possibility of Gagne coming back if the Flyers keep advancing. Please, let's not do this again. Let him sit in the press box and enjoy the games with street clothes on. He's hurt. He's had three concussions this season, and he can't come back. Is the team really struggling that much for goals that they need to risk the franchise player's career? Come on. Let him get right, and we'll see him in training camp in September.

Bill Meltzer's better preview is here.

This has nothing to do with the Flyers, but I want to talk about the Pittsburgh/New York series anyway. In the regular season, the Rangers matched up pretty well against the Pens. Their defensive system generally held them in check, and it looked like it could potentially be a challenging series for one of the East's best teams. In the first game, the Rangers came out strong and got some early goals. Pittsburgh battled back and eventually won 5-4. I said to some others that the Rangers cannot win if they keep playing that way. That's not their style, and they won't be able to outscore Pittsburgh in a seven game series. On Sunday, they tried a low scoring affair, and now they're down 2-0. I know they've both been one goal games, but nothing the Rangers are trying has worked.