MONTREAL — R.J. Umberger helped give Philadelphia another playoff lead, and Martin Biron came through as the Flyers held on for a crucial road win.
Umberger scored twice, Biron made 34 saves and Philadelphia beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 on Saturday night to even the second-round series at a game apiece.
Jeff Carter and Daniel Briere also scored to help the Flyers rebound after they blew 2-0 and 3-2 leads Thursday night in a 4-3 overtime loss.
“Marty was a huge part of that,” Carter said. “He was unreal tonight, again, and made the big saves when we needed them. It’s a good win for us. As a team on the road, going for home-ice advantage is your main focus.”
Saku Koivu and Andrei Markov scored their first goals of the playoffs for Montreal while goaltender Carey Price made 19 saves.
Umberger opened the scoring 5:53 in with his third goal of the playoffs.
After Markov scored 1:26 into the third period to draw Montreal to 3-2, Umberger sealed the win with his second goal of the game with 2:21 remaining, shooting into a wide-open right side after he batted the puck out of Price’s glove.
“I was just crashing the net and it went in,” Umberger said. “I’ll take it.”
Price was beaten on shots over his left shoulder twice in the first half of the opening period as Umberger and Carter scored goals 2:46 apart to give Philadelphia a 2-0 lead 8:39 in.
Philadelphia 2 1 1 — 4
Montreal 1 0 1 — 2
First period — 1, Philadelphia, Umberger 3 (Dowd, Smith), 5:53. 2, Philadelphia, Carter 4 (Lupul, Timonen), 8:39 (pp). 3, Montreal, Koivu 1 (Kovalev, Streit), 16:18 (pp). Penalties — Dandenault, Mon (tripping), 6:57; Philadelphia, bench (too many men), 14:00; Coburn, Phi (roughing), 14:52.
Second period — 4, Philadelphia, Briere 7 (Prospal), 13:33. Penalties — Hatcher, Phi (roughing), 10:30; Kostopoulos, Mon (roughing), 10:30; Smolinski, Mon (hooking), 15:35; Hartnell, Phi (roughing), 17:56; Dowd, Phi (high-sticking), 20:00; Hamrlik, Mon (roughing), 20:00.
Third period — 5, Montreal, Markov 1 (Higgins, Koivu), 1:26. 6, Philadelphia, Umberger 4 (Upshall), 17:39. Penalties — Umberger, Phi (interference), 8:23; Upshall, Phi (roughing), 17:39; Kostopoulos, Mon (roughing), 17:39.
Shots on goal — Philadelphia 7-9-7 — 23. Montreal 16-13-7 — 36. Power-play opportunities — Philadelphia 1 of 2; Montreal 1 of 4. Goalies — Philadelphia, M. Biron 5-4-0 (36 shots-34 saves). Montreal, Price 5-4-0 (23-19).
Attendance — 21,273 (21,273). T — 2:33. Referees — Paul Devorski, Mike Leggo. Linesmen — Mike Cvik, Steve Miller.
