Sat Apr 26 22:02:05 2008

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Umberger, Biron shine as Flyers even series with 4-2 win

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Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - R.J. Umberger scored twice as the Philadelphia Flyers evened their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Montreal Canadiens with a 4-2 win in Game 2 at the Bell Centre.

Danny Briere scored the game-winner while Jeff Carter also lit the lamp for the Flyers, who bounced back from a 4-3 loss in overtime in Game 1.

Martin Biron was again sharp in net as he gave up just two goals on 36 shots and made several big saves throughout the game.

Saku Koivu had a goal and an assist while Andrei Markov also lit the lamp for the Canadiens. Carey Price was banged up for four goals on 23 shots in the loss.

The series will move to Philadelphia where the Flyers will host Game 3 on Monday and Game 4 on Wednesday.

The Flyers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period thanks to a pair of goals less than three minutes apart.

Less than six minutes in, Jim Dowd had the puck deep and brought it up to the right circle. From there he slid it over to Umberger, who snapped a shot over the left shoulder of Price.

Skating with the man advantage, Joffrey Lupul brought the puck in from the left point and skated to the slot. He slid a pass over to Carter cutting in and from the low right circle he threaded a shot into the right corner of the net at the 8:39 mark.

However, the Canadiens used the power play to cut the deficit in half later in the first. Shortly after a 5-on-3 expired, Koivu had the puck behind the net and stuffed it in from the right side with Biron looking the other way with 3:42 left in the opening frame.

Philadelphia grabbed a 3-1 lead with 6:27 left in the second. Vinny Prospal brought the puck into the Montreal end through the middle and hit Briere on the fly. Briere cut across the middle while shielding the puck from the defender and slid a low backhander under the right pad of Price.

Biron, who stopped all 13 shots he faced in the second period, shined in the final minutes of the frame.

Shortly after the Briere goal, Tomas Plekanec picked off a pass and skated down the other end of the ice on a clean breakaway. From down low he made the move to the backhand, but Biron swallowed the shot up with the glove.

Montreal was issued a power play when Scott Hartnell was called for roughing with 2:04 left in the seconds. Biron made several big stops during the man advantage, but he made his best stop towards the end as he again used the glove on a shot by Plekanec into what appeared to be a slam dunk.

The Habs made it a one-goal game just 1:26 into the third. With the teams skating 4-on-4, a turnaround pass from Christopher Higgins at the right circle found its way to Markov, who was uncovered in the slot and he one-timed the puck home.

Philadelphia, though, sealed the victory on a goal with just 2:21 to play. Scottie Upshall grabbed a loose puck at the left circle and attempted to get it to Umberger, but it popped into the air off the stick of a Canadien player. Umberger took a whack at it in mid-air as Price was trying to grab the puck with the glove. However, neither player got it and the puck bounced to the ice where Umberger backhanded it in for his fourth goal of the playoffs.

Game Notes

Briere has 12 points in the playoffs thus far, which leads the league...Philadelphia finished 1-for-2 on the power play...The Habs, who finished the regular season with the best power play, went 1-for-4 with the man advantage and is now 5-for-38 with the man advantage in the playoffs...Montreal is 3-1 all-time in playoff series against the Flyers, including a win in the 1976 Stanley Cup finals. The last postseason encounter between the teams came in 1989, when the Habs defeated Philly in the Wales Conference finals.