Tom Kostopoulos got a second chance at his own rebound and scored the game-winner 48 second into overtime, putting the Canadiens up, 1-0, in the best-of-seven series that resumes tomorrow night in Montreal.
"We certainly didn't get any breaks," coach John Stevens said when asked how he felt about the calls.
On the high-stick goal, he said: "I thought his stick hit the top of the net after he hit the puck so logically you would think it was a high stick."
And the kneeing penalty on Mike Richards with 1:09 left to play, which resulted in Kovalev's tying goal with 28.6 seconds left in regulation?
"I certainly didn't think so," Stevens said. "I know [Richards] was confused."
And so it went. A solid effort and a well-executed game plan were cast aside by borderline calls that today are not worth the time and energy arguing.
The Flyers played an up-tempo game when they should have been legless, matched Montreal in speed and skill and jumped out to a two-goal lead before the Canadiens rallied.
R.J. Umberger (with a lot of help from Canadiens defenseman Patrice Brisebois), Jim Dowd and Joffrey Lupul scored and Martin Biron, solid through the playoffs, made 30 saves before taking his fourth loss of the postseason.
Today, the Flyers will get some rest and watch game tape before heading back into the Bell Centre for a crack at splitting the first two games.
"I was very proud of the effort here," Stevens said. "It was our third game in 4 nights and I was really, really happy with the way we responded here tonight. They came at us hard, but we regrouped and we had a good first period.
"I really thought we played well for the first game in the second round. If we can get some juice back in our legs, there are some things we can do better. But from [Biron] on out I thought we played a pretty gutsy game. We're going to have to regroup and get ready for the next one."
