Some thoughts from the NHL on TSN panel on Tuesday night:
While normally people from Quebec are excited to see their native sons do well in the post-season, that may not be the case this year.
There are three healthy francophone players on the Flyers right now, until Ian Laperriere comes back, and all three are playing lights out against the Montreal Canadiens in this series.
The French Connection of Simon Gagne, Danny Briere and Claude Giroux have all hit the scoreboard in this series and are playing some terrific hockey.
We wondered about the magic of the Montreal Canadiens coming out of the second round. Everybody was talking about how the Habs beat the Caps and Pens while shutting down the likes of Ovechkin, Crosby and Malkin, but a lot of people forgot about the magic of the Philadelphia Flyers.
I really thought that the Flyers' francophone players would look at this series as a challenge to play against the Canadiens and that they would elevate their respective games. So far they have.
What Now in Net?
Jaroslav Halak has given up nine goals on 48 shots. He had a terrible Game 1 where he gave up six goals on 25-odd shots, and you know what? We said 'no big deal' because he did the same thing against the Penguins, he did the same thing against the Capitals...but he did not respond the same way in Game 2 that he did in those other games, and Halak just looks as though he's lost a lot of the magic.
You know the old thing - give your team a chance to win. I'm sure the talk is going to start as we head back to Montreal for Game 3 - who's it going to be? Is it going to be Halak or Carey Price?