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MONTREAL — Head coach Guy Carbonneau decided not to wear his lucky necktie, but his Montreal Canadiens found a way to pinch a fortuitous victory.
Maybe there was enough karma among the passionate crowd of 21,273 at the Bell Centre to will the 4-3 overtime victory for the Habs in their second-round NHL playoff series-opener against the Philadelphia Flyers last night.
Many brought with them to the game a Page 2 cutout of Carbonneau's famous Hermes Paris tie from yesterday's edition of Le Journal de Montreal.
Canadiens skilled forward Alex Kovalev scored on the power play with 28.6 seconds remaining in the third period, and teammate Tom Kostopoulos required only 48 seconds in the first extra period to knock in his own rebound, as the Habs took the first game of the best-of-seven series.
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"It was a weird game," said Kostopoulos, who, for the second series-opener in a row, played the role of hero. He had a goal and an assist in the first-round curtain-raiser against the Boston Bruins, and added his first career NHL playoff overtime goal last night.
"We were expecting a lot of intensity because both teams were coming off Game 7 wins," he added. "But it was a tough game to get into, even the crowd was quiet."
The Flyers were playing their third game in four nights, but still had plenty of adrenaline flowing through their bodies and enough discipline to stick to a game plan that bottled up the Canadiens in the neutral zone.
As a result, Philadelphia grabbed a 2-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes, only to see the Canadiens create enough room to tie the game before the third period began. The Flyers went ahead again on a miscue from rookie Montreal goaltender Carey Price, but then Kovalev and Kostopoulos went to work to score 77 seconds apart.
Flyers centre Mike Richards was tagged with a kneeing penalty on Kovalev that resulted in the late-game power play. ("I thought I hit him with my shoulder," Richards said. "Apparently not.")
Kovalev also scored the tying goal late in the second period, but in a controversial manner.
With the Canadiens short-handed, the rebound from Tomas Plekanec's shot went high over Philadelphia goalie Martin Biron. As the puck made its way down, Kovalev batted the puck into the net.
After a lengthy video replay, referee Don Van Massenhoven's on-ice decision to allow the goal was not overturned.
"When the puck went into the air, I saw that the goalie was looking the other way," Kovalev said. "I felt I had enough time to let the puck come down far enough to knock it in. You hope they count the goal, but all you can do is wait."
Biron didn't agree with Van Massenhoven's decision.
"I thought it was a high stick, right away," the goalie said. "They had to go to Toronto [to NHL headquarters to review it] and once they go to Toronto, that's what happens. Van Massenhoven thought he saw it go off my head."
The Flyers kept the speedy Canadiens at bay not only with their tight checking in the neutral zone, but by blocking 22 Montreal shots.
"We definitely didn't play as well as we did last game [against the Bruins], but we found a way," Kovalev said.
His last-minute goal to send the game into overtime came off a draw to the left of Biron. The puck fell between Canadiens captain Saku Koivu and Philadelphia's Jeff Carter, but when Carter's stick broke as they battled for the puck, it squirted to Kovalev — in one swift motion, he snapped a high shot past Biron.
"I was hoping the puck would come to me from the scrum. And it did," Kovalev said.
Daniel Brière, who spurned a free-agent offer from the Canadiens last summer, was bombarded with boos every time he touched the puck. But he did win a draw that led to Joffrey Lupul's fluky goal that went off his leg.
After R.J. Umberger put the Flyers up 1-0 when his backhand pass was redirected into the Montreal net, Jim Dowd made it 2-0.
After Canadiens forward Andrei Kostitsyn missed a penalty shot, he scored on his next shift for Montreal's first goal.
