After having a somewhat disappointing season in his first year with the Philadelphia Flyers (at least the pre-Prospal part of the season), Danny Briere has quited all the critics and shown that he is worth every penny of his eight year, $52 million contract during this year’s playoff run. Briere is leading the league in playoff points (14) and goals (8) and has shown that he is every bit the star that Flyers’ GM Paul Holmgren thought he would be.

Last night the Flyers were cruising along with a 2-0 lead in the third period and looked well on their way to breaking open their series with the Montreal Canadiens until the Canadiens scored twice in 37 seconds to even things up on goals by Tomas Plekanec and Saku Koivu. The Flyers’ first goal came on R.J. Umberger’s sixth goal of the playoffs, a short side goal off a cross ice pass from none other than Briere. Umberger has scored in all four games of this series and has a point in five of the last six games dating back to the series with the Capitals. Scott Hartnell made it 2-0 early in the third period when he capitalized on a Vaclav Prospal rebound that hit off the post. The Flyers have scored the first two goals in each game of this series, but have had trouble holding on to that lead. Briere, along with goaltender Martin Biron, bailed them out once again.

The Flyers showed why they had the second best power play unit during the regular season. During a power play late in the third period, a composed Flyers went on the attack after giving up two very quick goals to make the score 2-2. With 3:38 left to go in regulation, Briere again found himself in the right place at the right time, knocking in a rebound past rookie goaltender Jaroslav Halak, scoring the winning goal. Umberger would later score an empty net goal to make the final score 4-2.

Martin Biron again showed why this year’s playoff run is so different from years past. As opposed to the years of goalies like Robert Esche, John Vanbiesbrouck, and Brian Boucher, Biron has brought his A-game to the post season, not letting in soft goals from beyond the blue line. Instead of falling apart after letting in two goals in less than a minute, Biron kept his composure and made several tough saves to prevent the Habs from taking the game. Other Flyers’ goalies would have fell apart and prevented the offense from doing its job and getting them back in the game. No matter what happens, Biron enables the offense to win the game.

The teams return to Montreal for Game Five, where Briere can expected to be booed with continued vehemence. Not only did Briere spurn a free agent contract offer by the Canadiens to sign with the Flyers, but is actively crushing their hopes for a 25th Stanley Cup. The game is set for Friday night at 7PM.