Final Score: Flyers 4, Canadiens 2

This Eastern Conference Finals matchup wasn't just the battle of underdog shockers. Philadelphia, the 7-seed, and Montreal, the 8-seed, had upset heavily favored teams in both of their first 2 series before meeting in this Conference Finals.

It's the first time in Conference Finals history that a 7-seed and 8-seed were the two competitors.

But the Flyers and Canadiens are also two of the most historically successful franchises in professional hockey. In fact, these 2 teams have the highest all-time winning percentages in NHL history.

The Flyers were able to take down the Canadiens in Game 5 of this historically significant battle, and Philadelphia is heading to the Stanley Cup Finals with a chance to take home its first championship in 35 years.

The Flyers won this series 4-1 over the Canadiens, and now will face the Chicago Blackhawks in the finals. The Hawks haven't won the Cup in 50 years. The Broad Street Bullies haven't kissed Lord Stanley's Cup in 35 years, themselves. It's going to be a hard-fought battle of hungry teams.

Philadelphia will be getting to the finals thanks to an impressive goaltending series by Michael Leighton. The netminder let up a goal just 59 seconds into this Game 5, but was brilliant the rest of the night.

“It’s a great feeling. We got a great team here, a great bunch of guys I’m proud of every one of them,” Leighton said. “I said right from the beginning of the year, we just got to get in the playoffs and anything can happen. That’s a tough team over there and we just played great.”

Mike Richards had a goal and 2 assists in the game on his way to being named the first star of the game. Jeff Carter scored 2 goals, and Aaron Asham added one of his own for the Flyers. Leighton had 25 saves for Philadelphia, capping off a spectacular series.

The Flyers were not even supposed to have made it to the Conference Finals. Philadelphia was down 3 games to 0 against the Boston Bruins in the second round, before pulling off the impossible and winning 4 straight games to take the series. Boston was even down 3-0 in Game 7 on the road, and still found a way to battle back and win the game. It's just the 3rd time in NHL history, and 4th time in American professional sports history, that a team came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the game.

It's truly been a historic run from the Philadelphia Flyers. Now they get to celebrate with a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals. But don't expect them to be satisfied yet; they still want to kiss that trophy that has deceived them for the last 35 years.

“It took a lot to get here. It’s not the trophy we want, but we haven’t done anything conventional all year especially in the playoffs,” said Mike Richards. “So we’ll go against the grain one more time.

The Canadiens put forth a valiant effort in this series but just didn't have enough gas left in the tank to survive another long series. Brian Gionta scored his 9th goal of the playoffs, an impressive number, just 59 seconds into this game. But the Canadiens would be denied for over 40 minutes before they would score again. During that passed time, they fell down 3-1 to Philadelphia and could not recover against the hot Flyer goaltender.

Chris Pronger was hit with a crucial 4-minute penalty late in the third period with the score 3-2. But the Flyers killed off the penalty in gritty fashion, clinching their dream of reaching the Stanley Cup Final.

Be ready for an exciting, hard-fought series between the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers in a battle for the NHL's Stanley Cup Championship.