They declare that the Flyers' second goal never should have counted, that Patrick Thoresen ran the Caps' Shaone Morrisonn into goalie Cristobal Huet, so overtime never should have happened.
They contend that, if the first, blatant tripping penalty the Caps committed hadn't been called in overtime, then the second never should have been whistled, either; the Flyers scored on the resultant power play.
So, while the Flyers and their fans today nurse the injustices of last night's action, 140 miles south, they revel in the pain of their neighbors.
"More often than not, these things have a way of evening out," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said.
Maybe things now are even.
The Flyers are hoping the evening-out has yet to come.
"We didn't get a lot of breaks," said center Jeff Carter, not punning, although his stick broke on the faceoff that led to the Canadiens' tying goal in the third.
The Canadiens' biggest break lasted 4 minutes of real time, and it didn't even unfold on the ice.
Or in the Bell Centre.
Or in this lovely city.
Or this proud, stately province.
About 350 miles away, in a league office in Toronto, the NHL's cabal of goal-replay gods - usually among them, vice presidents Mike Murphy, Jim Gregory and Colin Campbell - decreed that Alex Kovalev's goal was good.
That Kovalev did not illegally high-stick the puck out of the air, into the back of the net; that, according to the league's Web site explanation, "Video review was conclusive that it was not struck with a high stick."
That, shorthanded, the Canadiens evened the game at 2-2.
The Flyers regained their lead 19 seconds into the third period, then outplayed the Capitals for the next 16 minutes or so, until desperation turned the tide Montreal's way. And then . . .
Dubiously, incredibly, with 69 seconds left, comes the only penalty of the third period: Mike Richards upended a charging Kovalev.
