Many were hopeful that the Montreal Canadiens would get defenseman Andrei Markov back from a knee injury at some point. Let’s squash those hopes. Markov will undergo season-ending surgery on his right knee, to repair a meniscus and reconstruct his ACL.

“We are very confident that Andrei will be able to fully recover from this injury,” Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier said in a statement Friday.

The surgery will be done by Dr. James Andrews which is good news and bad news. The good news is that he’s probably the best doctor in the country for this sort of thing, so it will get done correctly. The bad news is that it just shows you how serious the injury is when you have to see Andrews.

After the surgery, the 31-year old will be free to pursue a life of religious fulfillment.

For those Philadelphia Flyers fans who want to upgrade the goalie position to get over the hump, they just lost one potential option. The Montreal Canadiens sent Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues. That means that Carey Price will be the guy and no longer will be looking over his shoulder (or simply watching from the bench).

In return, the Canadiens get two prospects in forward Ian Schultz and center Lars Eller. They are 20-years old and 21-years old respectively.

In Halak, the Blues are getting a battled tested netminder. He was absolutely brilliant against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs. He was less-than-stellar against the steamrolling Flyers.

“He was the talk of the playoffs at one point when he won three straight games and eliminated the Capitals in Round 1 by stopping 131 of 134 shots, which included his stellar 53 of 54 shots saved in Game 5,” the Blues wrote in a news release.

The Blues should be happy with their new keeper and the Canadiens should be happy not to have the goalie controversy anymore. Then again, with the way the fans have booed Price so mercilessly, they might have a different problem.

Montreal Canadiens rookie Tom Pyatt will not play in Monday night’s showdown with the Philadelphia Flyers. Pyatt suffered an upper body injury in a Game 4 loss and was a game-time decision for tonight.

But, it looks like that game-time decision has been made. Pyatt will not be in the lineup tonight and will be replaced with Mathieu Darche.

Pyatt didn’t skate this morning, so that was the first clue that he’d be a no-go.

The Canadiens are down 3-1 in the series and will attempt to revive their playoff lives tonight in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Flyers limped into the NHL playoffs this year. Down the stretch of the regular season their goaltending was horrific and it was a perfect fit for how most of the team was playing. They needed an OT shootout in the final game of the season to beat the New York Rangers and make the playoffs.

In short, this was hardly a playoff team. At least not one that would make any noise.

Fast forward to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Flyers stomped the New Jersey Devils like a narc at a biker rally in the first round. Then they pulled off the improbable comeback from down 3-0 in the series against the Boston Bruins. That included recovering from a 3-0 deficit in Game 7 in case you’ve been living in a cave. Or a cave with no HDTV.

Since then? They haven’t even been scored on. That’s right, since they were down 3-0 in Game 7, the Flyers have rattled off 13 unanswered goals and three wins.

Their latest victims have been the Montreal Canadiens. They dropped the Habs 6-0 on Sunday night and came back to beat them 3-0 on Tuesday night. We’re still waiting for the Canadiens to join the series. It must hurt worse for them because Montreal cares more about hockey than Philadelphia. Sorry.

Simon Gagne has been phenomenal since returning from the cracked foot that sidelined him earlier in the playoffs. He had a goal in Game 2 as did Danny Briere, who finally seems to be earning some of that fat salary.

And what’s happened to Jaroslav Halak? The third goal to Ville Leino was the textbook definition of soft. Halak has been brilliant in the postseason, but so far against Philly he’s been bad to quite bad.

It’s only a 2-0 lead and as the Flyers know, even 3-0 leads don’t mean squat. But the Flyers are halfway to the Stanley Cup and haven’t even given up a goal yet. It’s early, but Flyers fans should be encouraged.

It’s almost down to two teams, when we will officially begin our Two Teams, One Cup campaign.

We’re keeping it going with the whole Philadelphia Flyers thing. After an historic comeback on Friday night against the Boston Bruins, we’re doing a little mini celebration on OTR, but instead of popping champagne corks, we’re posting legendary fist fights.

Once again making an appearance here is Dave Schultz. Schultz is shown here sticking it to Dale Rolfe of the New York Rangers.

We’d like you to pay particular attention to the way Schultz grabs a big handful of Rolfe’s hair. Fighting in the NHL ain’t what it used to be.

As you may or may not have heard, the Philadelphia Flyers took a huge dump on all of the hopes and dreams of Boston fans on Friday night. The Flyers were down 3-0 in the series against the Boston Bruins and were one game from elimination. Since only about three teams in all of North American sports history have come back to win from a 3-0 deficit, it was quite clear that the odds of them pulling this off were slim and none.

But then a funny thing happened. Actually, three funny things. As in wins. The Flyers won the next three games and the Bruins found themselves in a win-or-die situation in Game 7. Oops!

Game 7 was a microcosm of the entire series. The Bruins took a 3-0 lead in the first period and the Flyers were again in deep crap. But Boston did a lousy job of keeping the lead and the Flyers fought back for four goals and a 4-3 win with a 4-3 series win. Microcosm.

So, now the Flyers are set to face the Montreal Canadiens in the Conference Finals. They had to fight and fight and fight to keep pace with the Bruins and then deliver the knock-out blow. That reminded us of when they used to literally fight and fight and fight and then deliver the knock out blow.

Take it away, Schultzy!

Montreal Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey quit his job on Monday, the team announced.  He’ll remain with Montreal’s front office in an advisory role and will be replaced by Pierre Gauthier.

PHOTO CAPTION:  Canada had their own version of Superman and his name was Bob Gainey

“I’ve done my best and now it’s time for me to pass the torch,” Gainey said on Monday. “I believe that the general manager position requires a long-term vision and a long-term commitment. At this point, I’m not prepared to make a commitment of four or five or six more years in this position.

“If I had to choose between leaving a little earlier, or a little later, I’d prefer (to go) earlier.”

During Gainey’s reign, after being hired in 2003, the Canadiens haven’t been a legitimate threat to win it all.  Their best season was in 2007-08 when they finished atop the Eastern Conference, but the Philadelphia Flyers took care of them in five games during the Conference Semifinals.

Gainey was more productive as a player for the Canadiens.  He was drafted 8th overall in 1973 and played in 16 seasons (all with Montreal), winning four consecutive Frank J. Selke Trophies and five Stanley Cups (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1986).

Gainey was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992.

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak refuses to say whether or not he’s requested a trade.

“Maybe I did and maybe I didn’t; it’s between me and my agent (Allan Walsh),” Halak said.

We’ll translate: He asked for a trade.

Halak seems to like Montreal, but the problem is that he would like to play more. The Canadiens have invested a lot in 22-year old Carey Price.

“We’re both young goaltenders and we both want to play,” the 24-year-old Halak said.