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PHILADELPHIA - There is so much that happens in a game like this, it’s hard to say it turned on one moment.
But you could make the case the Philadelphia Flyers’ elimination of the Montreal Canadiens swung on the short-handed goal scored by Flyers captain Mike Richards to tie Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final four minutes into the game.
It came in a calamity of legs and bodies and sticks just inside the Montreal blue line, Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak bolting out of the net to try and get to the loose puck first, colliding with Montreal defenceman Roman Hamrlik and Richards. Out of the confluence of puck and bodies, the puck squirted to Richards who had nothing but Halak’s sliding stick to beat to put the puck in the empty net.
“I tried to read the play. I tried to get there, but I don’t know what happened,” said Halak, the restricted free agent who helped his cause with a monster spring performance. “The puck bounced over me and right onto Richards’ stick and he had an easy job to do.”
Said Richards: “Well, I was actually going to go off and then the puck just took a soft bounce and I thought I could get there. I seen Halak kind of hesitate a little bit to come out. I just tried to poke it by him, got up, and the puck was actually just sitting there ready for him to take.
“I just wanted to avoid the goalie stick that was laying there and I just put it in.”
The goal came at 4:25 of the first period, putting the Flyers back on even terms after Montreal’s Brian Gionta had beaten shaky-looking Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton 59 seconds into the game to give the Habs the momentum.
“That’s a tough one, but you could look at a lot of things that were the turning point,” said Canadiens defenceman Hal Gill. “We couldn’t find a way to make it go our way.”
In the moments after the game, the loss was too fresh for the Habs to have an appreciation for the unexpected run they managed as the last seed in the Eastern Conference.
“In a few days time when it all soaks in and we settle in, we’ll realize the steps and the progress we made as a team and an organization,” said defenceman Josh Gorges, who blossomed into a front line defender this season. “Right now it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s the end of our season. All you see is the loss.
“This is a bitter taste. It sucks. It’s going to eat all of us up this summer, but it will be motivation to come back with a strong mindset and the knowledge of what it takes to go all the way.”
What to do with the goaltending situation - Halak emerged to unseat Carey Price in the second half of the season - will be the big question for Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier this off-season. Both are restricted free agents.
“It was a challenging season for everybody. I’m really proud of this group and what we did the last month or two months,” said Halak. “We faced a lot of adversity, a lot of injuries, but we made the playoffs and the conference finals. Nobody is satisfied, but we should be proud of what we’ve done.
“We came a long way to get here, but losing 4-1 in the conference final is not the way we wanted it to end, but here we are.”