By ED MORANPhiladelphia Daily News
morane@phillynews.com
THERE WERE A TON of empty seats in the Wachovia Center last night.
It's a good bet the fannies that normally would be in those seats were somewhere watching the Phillies. Which, of course, makes sense, with the Phils playing for a World Series berth and the Flyers just getting their season going.
Maybe the Flyers can return the favor next spring.
But they will have to get their first win in this 82-game campaign if they want to to do that. Two games in and they're 10 points out of the division lead after losing to Montreal, 5-3.
The 10-point deficit is more a factor of the schedule and the fact that the first-place Rangers have played five games and won them all. But it's also a factor of a scary reoccurrence of a bad trend from last season - not playing a full game.
"It's obviously not something we're happy about," said Mike Richards, who scored his second goal of the season on a power play to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead in the second period, a lead they blew by allowing four final-period Montreal goals.
"We played pretty good for 40 minutes. In the third period they capitalized on their opportunities and we didn't. It's something we're concerned about. At home, with a goal up, we have to be careful about the situation and tonight we weren't."
So instead of the strong start they were looking for, something like the 6-1 jolt to start last season, the Flyers have gone 0-2 at home with a three-game road trip starting tonight in Pittsburgh.
"Our quick start last year was huge come April," winger Mike Knuble said. "We don't even get in the playoffs if we don't start 6-1 last year. Come October, you won't put yourself out of the playoffs, but if we have a tough October, we could have a very tough time making the playoffs. You have to have a solid October to make the playoffs."
The Flyers got goals from Richards, Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne, but Marty Biron let in four for his second loss in two starts. He didn't have a lot of help from the defense. The Canadiens' go-ahead goal was scored inadvertently by Scottie Upshall, who tried to knock down a puck in front and put it behind Biron instead.
"We did a lot of good things for the first 40 minutes and got ourselves in the position we wanted to be in," said coach John Stevens. "It's just not paying attention to the details on the defensive side of the puck that gives them momentum.
"That goal they scored to tie it up, we looked at that goal three times in the prescout. [Roman] Hamrlik scored a goal just like that against Toronto the other night.
"The other one was not a smart play, either, trying to knock a puck down in the slot. Marty has no chance on that."
After a scoreless first period, Montreal scored 54 seconds into the second after Andrei Kostitsyn ran into Richards coming out of the zone with the puck and forced a turnover.
The puck went up the wall to Andrei Markov and found its way back to Kostitsyn as he cruised toward the net. He fired a shot that beat Biron short side under his glove, giving Montreal the 1-0 lead.
Carter evened the score when he blasted a drop pass from Upshall that appeared to tick off the stick of defenseman Michael Komisarek and got behind goalie Carey Price.
Richards gave the Flyers the 2-1 lead on the power play when he drifted in from the blue line and one-timed a pass from Daniel Briere 4 minutes, 15 seconds into the period.
Montreal took the lead at the start of the third on two quick goals, the second the fluke tip by Upshall into his own net.
Hamrlik tied the game on a quick redirect from Kostitsyn at 1:18. Then, at 2:02, Komisarek took the shot that Upshall tipped past Biron, putting Montreal up, 3-2.
"I was just trying to come in and get in position and the puck came up on my stick and my first reaction was to maybe just to knock it down, and unfortunately I made the perfect tip for a goal," Upshall said. "I told Marty, 'Sorry, buddy, that was my fault.' That was a big goal."
When Robert Lang scored at 13:40, it put the Canadiens up, 4-2 . Biron had allowed a rebound to come back out to Sergei Kostitsyn, who found Lang out front and open.
Gagne pulled the Flyers back to within one when he collared a Knuble rebound and put it around Price, but Steve Begin added an empty-netter to end the scoring at 5-3.
"It's tough starting the season 0-2, especially at home," Gagne said. "We need to go on the road and think about winning one game at a time. It's still early in the season. A lot of things can happen in the season, but for us right now, we have to focus on the next game in front of us." *
- So i totally know none of you read that whole thing. But the Flyers have lost two home games in a row.
- It's awful. we did so well last year and now we're in a funk.
- HOPEFULLY this means we'll win the next eight-hundred games. *knock on wood*
- I've also noticed lately that most hockey players have crazy names. except for mike richards. But that's still crazy because his last name is multiple guys with the first name Richard.
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