Was it my imagination or did Canada go gaga over the Montreal Canadiens? Well I'm not crying over the loss of Canada's last Stanley Cup contender. Leaf fans aren't supposed to cheer for their arch rivals. Sure I hated the Flyers in the 1970s. Who didn't? But this is 2010. Dave Schultz, Bob Kelly, Don Saleski and Andre Dupont are old men now. Fred Shero and Kate Smith are dead. But the Montreal Canadiens are still the enemy.
So when I hear that the Canadiens were the Cinderella team in this year's playoffs it makes my blood boil. The Flyers are the real Cinderella team. They finished with 88 points in the regular season, the same as the Canadiens. In fact it didn't even look like they were going to make the playoffs finishing the season at 3-7-1.The Flyers made the playoffs by winning the last game of the season in a shootout - partly because Ranger coach John Tortorella decided not to use Marian Gaborik as one of his shooters. They lost their starting and backup goalies to injuries and played most of the season with a career minor leaguer in net.
Although the Canadiens got a lot of credit for beating Washington, the #1 seeded team in the East and top offensive team. The Flyers beat New Jersey in 5 games. The Devils happened to have been the #2 seeded team and the top defensive team. Then the Flyers beat the Bruins who happened to have been #2 defensive team. But they did it the hard way after losing the first 3 games in the series. So when the two Cinderella teams faced each other, it was no contest. The Flyers won in 5 games with the minor league stopper, Michael Leighton earning 3 shutouts.
So in my books the 2010 Cinderella title goes to the Philadelphia Flyers.
P.S. Don't forget the Blackhawks have the NHL's most cursed player, Marian Hossa.
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