Stanley Cup Playoffs : Roy’s Streak Ends as Canadiens Lose to Flyers

Patrick Roy’s home winning streak ended Monday night as the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1, in the first game of the National Hockey League Wales Conference finals.

Ken Wregget turned in his second consecutive brilliant playoff performance with 24 saves. Short-handed goals from Derrick Smith and Ilkka Sinisalo also helped snap Roy’s 35-game home unbeaten string. Roy is 0-9 against the Flyers.

“It seems like a dream come true,” said Wregget, who was acquired late in the season from the Toronto Maple Leafs and was used sparingly behind Ron Hextall, who has a strained knee ligament.

“I’m just happy to be playing,” he said. “The guys are playing great in front of me, like they’ve been doing every round.”

The Flyers, coming off their worst regular season since 1971-72--they were fourth in the Patrick Division at 36-36-8--were a decided underdog entering the best-of-seven series. Montreal was 53-18-9, best in the Adams Division, in the regular season.

But Philadelphia, which played a superb positional game, got the clinching score by Rick Tocchet after Montreal’s only goal as Wregget played well again. Wregget replaced Hextall and beat Pittsburgh, 4-1, in the seventh game of the Patrick Division finals.

“I’d been sitting on the bench, yelling as loud as I can, and now I got a chance to contribute,” Wregget said.

Game 2 will be played at Montreal Wednesday night.

“We expect them to come out guns blazing in the next game,” Wregget said.

The short-handed goals gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead. Shayne Corson then scored for Montreal before Tocchet got the final goal 63 seconds later.

Wregget also had some praise for Roy, who made 23 saves but was victimized on breakaways on the two short-handed goals.

“The odds were against him,” Wregget said. “But it was a hell of a streak.”

Smith scored on a breakaway at 13:45 of the first period. With teammate Scott Mellanby penalized, Smith got a loose puck after Montreal defenseman Chris Chelios mishandled a pass at the point. Smith went in on a breakaway, faked right, making Roy commit, then easily beat the goalie to the left.

“It’s certainly a real blow when you have a short-handed goal scored against you,” Montreal’s Ryan Walter said. “They’re a good short-handed team. We have to back each other up out there.”

The Canadiens also were healthy, except for right wing Claude Lemieux’s groin injury. The Flyers were missing Hextall, Keith Acton and Murray Craven and had Tocchet playing with a knee injury.

The Flyers also lost one of their leading scorers, Brian Propp, 7:07 into the second period when he suffered a concussion and cut lip when elbowed into the boards by Chelios. Propp was taken off the ice by stretcher and went to a hospital for X-rays.

“It looks like he will be OK,” Flyer Coach Paul Holmgren said.

Dave Poulin set up the second Philadelphia goal when he took the puck from Larry Robinson and hit Sinisalo breaking over the Montreal line. Sinisalo’s weak shot trickled under Roy for his first goal.