Flyers advance to Eastern finals
MONTREAL -- Scott Upshall scored with 3:04 remaining in the third period, and the Philadelphia Flyers advanced to the Eastern Conference finals with a 6-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
Upshall deflected Jeff Carter's shot past Carey Price to give Philadelphia its second and final lead of the game as the Flyers won the conference semifinal in five games.
The Flyers are the second team to reach the conference finals after the Presidents' Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings got there in the West by sweeping the Colorado Avalanche.
Philadelphia will face the winner of the Pittsburgh Penguins-New York Rangers series. The Penguins lead 3-1 and Game 5 is today in Pittsburgh.
R.J. Umberger had 2 goals and an assist, and Martin Biron stopped 31 shots for the Flyers, whose last appearance in the East finals was in 2004 when they lost to Tampa Bay.
The Flyers' win also assured the first all-U.S. Stanley Cup Finals since 2003 and extended Canada's title drought to 15 years. Montreal was the last Canadian team to win it all in 1993.
Mike Richards and Scott Hartnell scored as Philadelphia got 3 second-period goals to take a 4-3 lead. Mike Knuble scored into an empty net with 50 seconds left.
Andrei Kostitsyn scored at 2:13 of the third to draw Montreal even at 4-4.
Kostitsyn took Tomas Plekanec's drop pass and used Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen as a screen to put a wrist shot past Biron.
Price returned to the Montreal net after he was replaced in Game 4 by Jaroslav Halak. The 20-year-old rookie made 32 saves, including a huge left pad save to stop Daniel Briere's shot on a breakaway with 8:19 remaining.
Guillaume Latendresse drove a slap shot off the right post during a Canadiens power play before Upshall's winner.
Philadelphia scored three times in the second, beginning with Richards' goal at 14:02 of the second period which drew the Flyers within 3-2.
Richards got credit for his fourth goal of the playoffs when he put up his left hand as Umberger's shot sailed past him and Price. A video review upheld the goal.
Umberger scored his second goal of the game at 15:44 to tie it at 3-3, and Hartnell's third goal of the playoffs at 17:00 gave the Flyers their first lead of the game at 4-3.
Montreal got its first lead of the series -- other than Tom Kostopoulos' overtime winner in Game 1 -- when Plekanec scored on a power play at 4:29.
Plekanec got between Flyers defensemen Derian Hatcher and Braydon Coburn to tip Patrice Brisebois' shot from the right point past Biron.
Umberger tied it with a second-effort goal at 10:20 as he swiped his own rebound past Price after he shot on a 2-on-1.
Alex Kovalev got credit for his fifth goal of the playoffs as he restored the Canadiens' lead at 11:28 when Maxim Lapierre's wraparound shot went in off Kovalev's skate.