Canadiens – Flyers: Habs Open First Round Series | GAME 1 PREVIEW

Sam Gerber

4 years ago

GAME DAY | Montreal Canadiens vs Philadelphia Flyers: Preview, TV, Start Time, Statistical Match-up, Projected Lines, Starting Goalies, Keys to Victory, Habs Tickets

Game Preview by Sam Gerber

Last game : MTL 2 PIT 0 F A minor lineup change that saw Phillip Danault moved to form a shutdown line of Artturi Lehkonen and Paul Byron made a big difference stifling the Penguins. Carey Price was perfect stopping all 22 shots. Montreal will now have a tougher task facing the Philadelphia Flyers, top seed in the Eastern conference.

For a complete game recap: Shutout by Price, Habs Eliminate Pens

Players to watch

Max Domi
Domi will be looking to earn greater responsibility versus the Flyers. The Canadiens could use an agitator that gets the Flyers attention while providing some offense.
Tomas Tatar
Tatar was held pointless against the Penguins. Tatar had 61 points in 68 games this season, a career high. The Habs rely on Tatar to score and need him to pull his weight in this series.
Jonathan Drouin
Other than being credited with a tap-in, Drouin was invisible against the Penguins. We have yet to see him take his game to another level. If he can elevate his game like he did in 2016, where he had 14 points in 17 playoff games, Drouin can be a key for the Habs to win the series.

Keys to Victory

Win special teams
The Habs power-play will need to do much better vs the Flyers, while the penalty-kill will have their work cut out for them.
Use your depth
Philadelphia is said to be the deepest team in the playoffs. The Habs fourth line and third defensive pair will need to step up their game to match the depth of the Flyers.
Be physical
The Flyers are a big physical team and the Habs need to be ready. The Canadiens will be punished by the Philly forecheck and the Habs will have to do the same to the Flyers to win the series.

Statistical Matchup by All Habs
Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON \| August 12, 8:00 PM ET \| TV: CBC, SN, TVAS, NBCSN
	2019-20 statistics
FLYERS	2019-20 statistics	CANADIENS
89 (6th)	Points (rank)	71 (24th)
41-21-7	Record	31-31-9
25-6-4	Home	14-17-6
9-1-0	Last 10	4-5-1
3.29	GF/G	2.93
2.77	GA/G	3.10
20.8	PP%	17.7
81.8	PK%	78.7
51.24	CF%	51.02

Pre-game quotes
Claude Julien on the Philadelphia Flyers “They’re just a good team overall. I can’t say it enough times: to me, they’ve been the most balanced team I’ve seen since we got here for these playoffs. Just watching them play, they’re playing with lots of confidence, they seem to be pretty solid in all areas. We’re just going to have to play hard like we did against Pittsburgh, and that’s how we intend to approach this series.”
Projected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders by All Habs
Forwards
Giroux – Couturier – Farabee Laughton – Hayes – Konecny van Riemsdyk – Grant – Aube-Kubel Bunnaman – Thompson – Pitlick	Tatar – Suzuki – Gallagher Drouin – Kotkaniemi – Armia Lehkonen – Danault – Byron Weise – Domi – Belzile
Defensemen
Provorov – Niskanen Sanheim – Myers Gostisbehere – Braun	Chiarot – Weber Kulak – Petry Ouellet – Mete
Out of the lineup
Scratched: Andreoff, Frost, Lindblom, Friedman, Hagg, Welinski, Zamula, Lyon, Ustimenko Injured/Unfit to Play: Raffl, Voracek	Scratched: Evans, Poehling, Hudon, Folin, Juulsen, Olofsson, Primeau, McNiven, Weal, Romanov (ineligible) Injured/Unfit to Play: Evans
Goalies
Carter Hart	Carey Price

Record: 24-13-3 GAA: – 2.42 Sv%: – .914 SO: 1 Alternate: Brian Elliot	Record: 27-25-6 GAA: – 2.79 Sv%: – .909 SO: 4 Alternate: Charlie Lindgren

What to Expect by Sam Gerber

The Flyers swept the round robin and have a team high in confidence. While many believe the Habs are lucky to be in the playoffs, the Canadiens earned this opportunity. The Habs top four defencemen of Shea Weber, Ben Chariot, Jeff Petry and Brett Kulak will be tested once again. Carey Price stole the series against the Penguins with an assist from the Habs rookies. It’s up to Montreal’s veteran forwards to step up to beat the Flyers.