Canadiens – Flyers: Resilient Habs Extend Series | GAME 5 RECAP
Rick Stephens
Montreal Canadiens vs Philadelphia Flyers Game Recap: Habs Line-up, Score, Statistics, Highlights, Post-game Interviews, NHL Three-Stars
FINAL | Round 1, Game 5 | Wednesday August 19, 2020
Flyers lead series 3-2
Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON
CANADIENS
Montreal
5-3
FLYERS
Philadelphia
Canadiens Lineup
Forward lines
Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher
Max Domi – Nick Suzuki – Jonathan Drouin
Paul Byron – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Artturi Lehkonen
Charles Hudon – Jake Evans – Joel Armia
Defence pairings
Ben Chiarot – Shea Weber
Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry
Xavier Ouellet – Victor Mete
Goaltenders
Carey Price – Charlie Lindgren
Scratches
Ryan Poehling, Christian Folin, Noah Juulsen, Victor Olofsson, Cayden Primeau, Michael McNiven, Jordan Weal, Dale Weise, Alex Belzile
Ineligible
Alexander Romanov
Injuries/Unfit to Play
Game Report
The series is coming back to Montreal! Okay, not really. But by winning a ‘road’ game in game 5, Kirk Muller will have last change for game 6 on Friday evening.
Just like game 2, the Canadiens injected a healthy dose of emotion into their game. It was the type of focus and intensity that had gone missing in games 3 and 4.
Montreal was led out of the gate by Brendan Gallagher. Still snarly from his benching in game 4, Gallagher was back to his feisty, rabble-rousing self, more than willing to get his nose dirty. It’s been widely speculated that Gallagher has been playing with a right ankle injury since the second game of the series with the Penguins.
Another player slowed by injury is Joel Armia. After game one, Claude Julien hinted loudly about an injury as the reason for Armia being moved to the fourth line. But Armia was tonight’s first star, scoring twice (one short-handed) with a plus-4 rating in just over 17 minutes of icetime.
Nick Suzuki had a strong night with a goal and an assist. Suzuki had another goal called back when Jonathan Drouin went offside.
The Canadiens punished the Flyers with 39 hits. Despite playing a little more than a period, Jesperi Kotkaniemi co-led the team in hits. But when Kotkaniemi delivered a shoulder check to Travis Sanheim early in the second period, his night would be over.
While we are fully supportive of the NHL’s efforts to limit concussions, the league got this one wrong. With Kotkaniemi committed to the hit, Sanheim made a last-second turn to exacerbate the contact. The Flyers turned the undeserved gift into two power-play goals.
And let’s not forget the play of Carey Price, who once again had a brilliant game. Price turned aside multiple odd-man rushes from the Flyers. At the other end, Carter Hart once again looked his youthful age giving up a couple of bad goals.
Price heartily endorsed the work of his interim head coach saying that he is bringing energy and enthusiasm to the bench. Suzuki said that, prior to the game, Muller challenged the team’s first line to set the tone. With their coach’s words ringing in their ears, the trio led by Gallagher was physical out of the gate, dominating the first shift.
The tensions of bad blood kept building throughout the game. It will be interesting to see the carry-over for game six of the series that is scheduled for Friday evening at 7:00 pm.
Plus / Minus
▲ Carey Price, Joel Armia, Nick Suzuki, Brendan Gallagher, Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Ben Chiarot, Brett Kulak, Jake Evans
▼ Max Domi, Paul Byron, Victor Mete, Jonathan Drouin
The Numbers
Game Statistics
CANADIENS
FLYERS
33
Shots
29
40
Face-off %
60
1-for-7
Power Play
3-for-7
33
Penalty Minutes
34
39
Hits
28
41
Corsi For
36
Scoring Summary
FINAL
1
2
3
OT
SO
T
Canadiens (5-4)
1
2
1
–
–
4
Flyers (6-2)
0
2
1
–
–
3
Scorers
Goalies
MTL: Armia (2)-SHG, Armia (3), Gallagher (1)-PPG, Suzuki (2)
“This was a character win with our group. I thought it started right from the first shift tonight with [Phillip Danault’s] line and the intensity that [Brendan Gallagher] brought. I think that was our response from losing the last game (2-0 on Tuesday). They got ready to go and they set the tone that first shift.”
“The thing I really liked was our response. Philly scored a couple goals and we came back, they score late in the game and [Suzuki] scores the very next shift. I don’t think we allowed them to get some momentum because of the goals we were able to score.”
Carey Price
“[Kirk Muller] has been doing a great job behind the bench. He’s bringing a lot of energy and enthusiasm. It’s not an easy position to get tossed into but I think he’s leaning on his prior experience as a head coach and he’s excelling right now.”
“Brendan did it again. He’s got one of the biggest hearts of any guy I’ve ever played with. We know what we get from him, we get 100 percent compete. He came up with a big one for us tonight.”
Joel Armia
“I think the whole team played great. We gave everything we’ve got every shift and just kind of focused on playing simple and shooting the puck. I don’t think there’s any magic tricks, just keeping it simple.”