Flyers eliminate Canadiens, 6-4

MONTREAL – Scott Upshall scored with 3:04 remaining in the third period and the Philadelphia Flyers advanced to the Eastern Conference finals with a 6-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

Upshall deflected Jeff Carter’s shot past Carey Price to give Philadelphia its second and final lead of the game as the Flyers won the conference semifinal series in five games.

The Flyers are the second team to reach the conference finals after the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings won the West by sweeping the Colorado Avalanche.

Philadelphia will face the winner of the Pittsburgh Penguins-New York Rangers series.

The Penguins lead 3-1 and Game 5 is today in Pittsburgh.

R.J. Umberger had two goals and an assist and Martin Biron stopped 31 shots for the Flyers, whose last appearance in the East final was in 2004 when they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Flyers’ win also assured the first all-U.S. Stanley Cup final since 2003 and extended Canada’s title drought to 15 years.

Montreal was the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup – in 1993.

Umberger scored his second goal of the game at 15:44 to tie it at 3-3 and Scott Hartnell’s third goal of the playoffs at 17:00 gave the Flyers their first lead of the game at 4-3.

Mike Knuble scored into an empty net with 50 seconds left.

Andrei Kostitsyn scored at 2:13 of the third to draw Montreal even at 4-4.