Wednesday April 3rd, 2013
Game Recap: After a solid twenty minutes on the road, the Canadiens wilted handing a victory to the Flyers.
| MONTREAL CANADIENS 23-8-5 51 POINTS 2nd in the East |
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS 16-17-3 35 POINTS 11th in the East |
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| FINAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T |
| Canadiens | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | 3 |
| Flyers | 0 | 2 | 3 | – | 5 |
Top Scorers:
| CANADIENS | FLYERS | ||
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Scoring Summary:
| G | Per | Time | Str | Team | Goal Scorer | Assist | Assist |
| 1 | 1 | 13:13 | EV | MTL | 74 A.EMELIN(3) | 67 M.PACIORETTY(18) | 51 D.DESHARNAIS(13) |
| 2 | 2 | 4:47 | EV | PHI | 14 S.COUTURIER(3) | 26 R.FEDOTENKO(8) | 12 S.GAGNE(7) |
| 3 | 2 | 15:43 | EV | PHI | 12 S.GAGNE(3) | 38 O.LAURIDSEN(1) | 22 L.SCHENN(6) |
| 4 | 2 | 16:29 | EV | MTL | 8 B.PRUST(5) | 24 J.HALPERN(2) | 27 A.GALCHENYUK(13) |
| 5 | 2 | 16:49 | EV | MTL | 51 D.DESHARNAIS(9) | 74 A.EMELIN(9) | 67 M.PACIORETTY(19) |
| 6 | 3 | 14:54 | EV | PHI | 17 W.SIMMONDS(12) | 27 B.GERVAIS(5) | 44 K.TIMONEN(20) |
| 7 | 3 | 16:24 | EV | PHI | 29 E.GUSTAFSSON(1) | 28 C.GIROUX(25) | 93 J.VORACEK(22) |
| 8 | 3 | 19:21 | EV-EN | PHI | 93 J.VORACEK(15) | 24 M.READ(9) |
Shots on Goal:
| FINAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T |
| Canadiens | 11 | 4 | 2 | – | 17 |
| Flyers | 8 | 12 | 14 | – | 34 |
Goaltending:
| CANADIENS | FLYERS | ||
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Record: 18-7-4 SA: 33 Sv%: .879 |
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Record: 16-14-3 SA : 17 Sv%: .824 |
Lineup Notes:
- Habs starting six: Tomas Plekanec, Michael Ryder, Brian Gionta, Josh Gorges, P.K. Subban, Carey Price
- Scratched: Tomas Kaberle, Ryan White, Yannick Weber
- Davis Drewiske played his first game since being acquired. He wore jersey No. 44.
- No trades for the Canadiens today. All of Marc Bergevin’s recent transactions can be found here.
What you need to know:
Prior to the game, the Jumbotron at Wells Fargo played the pre-game brawl of 1987 between the Canadiens and Flyers. It was Game 6 of the Wales Conference final and pretty much every player on both teams was involved in the blood bath. Stuff like that revs up the Philly crowd. Miraculously, by the end of the first period, the Canadiens had put a sleeper hold on the Flyers and their fans — this is what a 12-3-2 road team does — and had taken a 1-0 lead.
With just two minutes gone in the second period, Travis Moen accepted an invitation to fight from Wayne Simmonds. Smart move by Simmonds, dumb decision by Moen. The Flyers faithful woke up.
Before the penalties could be announced, Brandon Prust decided to dance with Flyer thug Zac Rinaldo. An even dumber decision by Prust. The two minor scraps fully recharged the folks at Wells Fargo and the Flyers drew from the energy in the building — Sean Couturier got the Flyers on the board just over two minutes later. The orange beast had been awakened.
The Flyers went on to dominate the second and third period peppering 26 shots at Carey Price.
The Canadiens were not in the game the rest of the way, managing only six shots for the final 40 minutes. Habs couldn’t take advantage as Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov looked quite beatable even ducking out of the way to give the Canadiens a lead to end the second period that they didn’t deserve. Bryzgalov’s backup, Calvin Heeter arrived from the Adirondack Phantoms one minute into the game and looked terrified that he could see action with the Flyers No. 1 goalie appearing shaky.
But the Canadiens could not mount any kind of offense with just two shots on goal in the third period.
Were the Flyers fortuitous? Certainly! Goals off skates, an own goal and a lucky bounce off the end boards all played a part. But give Philadelphia full credit for taking control of the game once the Habs opened the door. Keep in mind that this team was 13th in the conference coming into the game and has had a tough time all season keeping the puck out of their own goal.
Plus
- Habs penalty-killing was perfect in three short-handed situations against the second best power-play in the league.
- With the Canadiens under constant attack for the final two periods, it was left up to Carey Price to keep them in the game. Price was the only player singled out for praise in the coach’s post-game comments.
- In a game where the defense didn’t look very good, Alexei Emelin was the exception delivering several solid hits and adding a goal and an assist.
- With the injury to Tomas Plekanec, fourth-line forward Jeff Halpern got extra shifts racking up 17 minutes in ice-time. Both Halpern and Lars Eller were very good in penalty-killing duty.
- Max Pacioretty broke his five-game scoring slump midway through the third period. Pacioretty added an empty-net goal.
- Not a great game for Alex Galchenyuk but he made a brilliant pass to set up the Canadiens second goal. Hopefully his confidence is given a boost.
Minus
- Canadiens power-play was dreadful. Not only did they fail to score in three chances, the Habs couldn’t mount any pressure or get shots on net. It’s inexcusable particularly against a goalie who could have been beaten.
- Brandon Prust has been walking on water since he arrived in Montreal. But his decision to engage Zac Rinaldo was not very bright. There was nothing to be gained for the Canadiens. Ditto for Travis Moen. Their actions turned the momentum of the game.
- The defensive pair of Francis Bouillon and Davis Drewiske looked adequate in the first period. But once the heat was turned up, Bouillon was slow and overmatched; Drewiske looked like a defenseman who has been sitting in the press box much of the season.
- Andrei Markov showed the effects of a coaching staff who isn’t effectively managing his minutes.
- On a night when the Habs could have used a crease-clearing d-man, Ryan O’Byrne was on his way to Toronto.
- Against a slow, immobile defense, the Habs didn’t bring their speed to the rink.
- The Canadiens allowed three unanswered goals in the third to a team that was 1-11 when trailing after two periods.
Injury/Roster Report:
- Tomas Plekanec left the game in the second period and did not return. He is day-to-day with a groin injury.
- Max Pacioretty has a right ankle injury. It’s not yet clear whether he will be able to play on Thursday night against the Winnipeg Jets.
| NHL Three Stars | |
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| Post-game Chatter |
Coach Michel Therrien:
- “We didn’t match their intensity. It’s pretty simple. They deserved to win. When you generate just six shots on net in the second and third you’re not going to win many games.”
- “They played hard and threw pucks at the net and they got rewarded. It’s something we didn’t do.”
- “As soon as we lost Plekanec it seemed that we lost our focus. We weren’t capable of getting it back.”
- On Tomas Plekanec’s injury: “It’s a groin. It’s day-to-day.”
- On positives in the game: “It was Carey Price tonight.”
Carey Price:
- “They got four pretty lucky goals in my opinion and that’s the difference. But I don’t think we played well enough to win that game, regardless of the bounces. I think we definitely could have played better collectively as a group. We just didn’t have our legs under us. They played hard. You have to give their team credit.”
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette:
- “I guess you take them any way you can when you’re down going into that period. I think it’s kind of just rewards, too. I thought our guys did a terrific job in the second and third periods. We sealed things up defensively after the first, we were able to generate a lot more in the second and third. Good that you start throwing pucks at the net, it’s good to see some results for it.”
Flyers forward Simon Gagne:
- “I got a lucky rebound from the board right onto my tape. I think Carey Price was looking at the other side, so I had a pretty-much open net. It was a lucky bounce, but I’ll take it.”
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