(8) MONTREAL CANADIENS VS (7) PHILADELPHIA FLYERS <\/strong><\/p>\nThen, in round two, we figured the Penguins\u2019 experience and the Bruins\u2019 goaltending would prevail. But the Habs simply wanted it more than Pittsburgh and the Flyers\u2019 forecheck was far too much for Boston to handle.
\nNow, the Eastern Conference\u2019s two world beaters are on a collision course. Whose miracle run will finally end? <\/p>\n
Breaking down the two rosters, the Flyers\u2019 success makes a lot more sense to me. They\u2019ve got a stable of big, well-rounded defenseman who can move the puck but punish forecheckers too. The Devils and Bruins\u2019 forwards just couldn\u2019t penetrate Chris Pronger, Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen when it mattered. <\/p>\n
The Flyers\u2019 forecheck has also been outstanding. Even without Jeff Carter, who remains sidelined with a broken foot, Philly has plenty of size and speed to offer. <\/p>\n
Mike Richards, Scott Hartnell, Daniel Carcillo, Simon Gagne \u2013 they\u2019ve all terrorized defenders in the corners. ![\"Sports](\"http:\/\/affiliates.commissionaccount.com\/processing\/impressions.asp?btag=a_3953b_677\")
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So the question is \u2013 can Montreal handle Philly\u2019s attack better than New Jersey or Boston did? Maybe. For a team not known for grittiness, the Habs actually have a decent amount of it on the back end. P.K. Subban has been a revelation with his combination of physicality, creativity and skating ability. Hal Gill may be slow but he has a long reach and it\u2019s extremely tough for attackers to get around his giant frame. Josh Gorges also eats minutes and regularly plays against opponents\u2019 top forwards. <\/p>\n
Compared to the Devils\u2019 tiny defense corps or Boston\u2019s banged-up unit, which relies on Zdeno Chara too much, I actually do believe the Habs are better equipped to bottle up the Flyers. <\/p>\n
I also think they have a much better chance of filling the net than the offensively challenged Bruins did. Michael Cammalleri has emerged as a top-notch clutch scorer, leading the playoffs in goals so far. <\/p>\n
Role players like Dominic Moore and Travis Moen chip in offense at the right moments and Tomas Plekanec has done a good job creating chances for his teammates. <\/p>\n
Sure, they\u2019re small up front, but that wasn\u2019t a problem in round two \u2013 even though it should\u2019ve been against bruisers like Brooks Orpik. The plucky Habs have found a way to beat size with speed \u2013 and it\u2019s resulted in enough offense to win. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s the operative word: enough. The way Jaroslav Halak has played in goal for Montreal, tiny bursts of offense have been enough for him to win most nights. I\u2019m not convinced the Flyers can match that kind of game-stealing effort. Michael Leighton is freshly recovered from an injury and, while he played admirably in the last two games of the series, he can\u2019t dominate a game like Halak can. <\/p>\n
I never thought I\u2019d say it but I think the Canadiens are about to book their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final. Their speed up front and goaltending will be the difference. <\/p>\n
Prediction: <\/strong>Canadiens in seven<\/p>\nCLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT SPORTSBOOK.COM\u2019S NHL HOCKEY BETTING LINES FOR THIS WEEK’S MATCHUPS!!!!<\/h3>\n
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\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Round 3 Seven game Conference Final series between the #8 seed Montreal Canadiens vs #7 seed Philadelphia Flyers opened yesterday, here’s the odds and our prediction for the series. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":22594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[10330,27701,27694,29113,29102,29114,29115,24144,28977,28979,21458,29116,13318,27691,27692,27674],"class_list":["post-22592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl","tag-10330","tag-2010-stanley-cup-futures","tag-2010-stanley-cup-playoff-picks","tag-canadiens-flyers-lines","tag-canadiens-flyers-picks","tag-canadiens-flyers-predictions","tag-canadiens-vs-flyers-series-preview","tag-canadiens-vs-flyers","tag-conference-final-series","tag-conference-finals","tag-hockey-betting-picks","tag-montreal-canadiens-vs-philadelphia-flyers-predictions","tag-round-3","tag-stanley-cup-playoff-picks","tag-stanley-cup-playoff-prediction","tag-stanley-cup-playoffs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22592"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108196,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22592\/revisions\/108196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}