5 THINGS: Flyers vs. Canadiens

Returning home briefly, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (23-26-10) will host Martin St. Louis' Montreal Canadiens (24-29-4) at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday evening. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET.

GAME NOTES
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the second of three meetings this season between the teams and the first of two games at the Wells Fargo Center. The season series will conclude in Philadelphia on March 24. Back on Nov. 19 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, the Flyers fell 1.9 seconds short of a regulation win in an eventual to the Canadiens.
Scoring his second goal of the game, Cole Caufield forced overtime with less than two ticks left on the clock in the third period. Owen Tippett enjoyed arguably his best game of the 2022-23 season including a pair of goals. Travis Sanheim and Kevin Hayes also scored for the Flyers while Christian Dvorak and Mike Matheson tallied for the Canadiens. In the shootout, Nick Suzuki scored in the bottom of the second round. For the Flyers, Morgan Frost hit both posts with the puck staying out of the net.
The Flyers are coming off a western road trip that saw the team go 1-3-0.
The trip started out with an atrocious performance in a 6-2 blowout loss to the Seattle Kraken. In Vancouver, the Flyers lost by an identical 6-2 score to the Canucks but the Flyers actually had the better of the play for most of the night. The final two Canucks goals were shorthanded empty net goals. In Calgary, the Flyers gritted out a 4-3 win over the Flames. It was a costly victory, however, as leading scorer Travis Konecny went down in the second period with an upper-body injury.
In Edmonton on Tuesdayz, the Flyers played an outstanding first period and led 2-1 heading into the third period. In the final stanza, the Flyers ran out of gas. A high-sticking double minor on Olle Lycksell opened the door for Connor McDavid to take over the game. Edmonton went on to win, 4-2.
After playing three games in four nights, the Flyers had a travel day on Wednesday and an off-day on Thursday. They will hold an optional morning skate ahead of tonight's game against the Canadiens,
The injury-riddled Habs are playing the final game of a four-game road trip. They are 1-2-0 on the trip so far, but are coming off a 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. There have also been plenty of opportunities both for rest and for practice: two nights between last Saturday's game in Toronto (5-1 loss) and the game against the Devils and then two nights off before playing the Flyers. The game in Philly is the front end of a back-to-back set. The Habs will return home after this game to host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
Here are five things to watch in tonight's game:
1. Will Flyers replicate the process from the Edmonton games?
The Flyers were unable to close out Tuesday's game in Edmonton for two key reasons.They took two careless high-sticking penalties (one by Joel Farabee in the waning seconds of the first period and the aforementioned Lycksell penalty in the third period), and Edmonton's deadly power play capitalized on both. Secondly, the Flyers got worn down. The effects took hold of being at the tail end of a three-in-four, having had such a grueling game with a shortened bench (essentially just nine forwards) on Monday afternoon in Calgary and playing the first two periods in Edmonton with a playoff-like intensity.
Overall, though, the Flyers could hardly have played two better hockey games than the efforts they put forth in a 2-1 (2-1) shootout win against the Oilers in Philadelphia on Feb. 9 and the first two periods of Tuesday's game in Edmonton. The first period in particular -- in which the Flyers held the Oilers without a shot on goal for nearly 15 minutes of game play -- was a textbook 200-foot effort, shift after shift. A huge key to the game the Flyers won against Edmonton was that the Flyers stayed out of the penalty box the entire game.
Plain and simple, if the Flyers can replicate the process (forechecking, gap control, backchecking, etc.) they followed in roughly four-and-a-half of the six regulation periods they played against the Oilers, they will give themselves a chance to compete on most nights.
Specific to playing against Montreal, a team that ranks 29th offensively (2.67 GPG) and tied for 27th defensively (3.65 GAA), if the Flyers bear down in similar fashion against the Habs to how they played against the Oilers, Philadelphia will give itself every opportunity to win this game.
However, if the Flyers are as sloppy as they were in the first game against Montreal, the home loss to Chicago and pockets of last Saturday's game in Vancouver, the Canadiens are capable of burning Philly for the second time this season. There's no team in the NHL against whom the Flyers -- ranked 27th offensively (2.68 GPG) and tied for 18th defensively (3.20 GAA) -- can afford to bring a sloppy performance and expect to beat.
2. Situational Play
As one would expect from two teams in the low end of the standings, both the Flyers and the Canadiens operate at a deficit in various game-situations including 5-on-5 play. On paper, though, this is one game where the Flyers actually enter with an on-paper edge based on team stats for the season to date.
As a team, the Flyers are minus-eight in their 5-on-5 goal differential (108 GF/ 116 GA) while the Habs are minus-22 (107 GF / 129 GA). In terms of rankings, the Flyers are in the middle of the NHL pack (15th) in the number of 5-on-5 goals they've allowed, while the Canadiens rank 25th. However, the Flyers rank a meager 23rd in 5-on-5 goals scored while the Canadiens are 25th. Underlying numbers: the Flyers rank 25th (47.05 percent) in 5-on-5 shot attempt differential at 5-on-5 while the Habes are 26th (46.27 percent). Philly is 25th in expected goal share (46.29 percent) 43.31 percent at 5-on-5, and the Canadiens are 29th (43.29 percent).

Now let's look at special teams. The Flyers have fallen back into last place in the NHL in their power play conversion rate (27-for-171, 15.8 percent). The Canadiens aren't much better off, ranking 28th (29-for-174). The Flyers have allowed eight opposing shorthanded goals, although it should be noted that half (including three during the recent western road trip) have come in empty-net situations late in games. The Habs have coughed up just three opposing SHGs (tied for 5th best leaguewide).
Philly's penalty kill got off to a strong start through 12 games this season then hit the skids. There was a solid uptick from mid-December to the All-Star break but another dip this month. Overall, the Flyers rank 21st (40 opposing PPGs on 171 opportunities) while the Canadiens rank 28th (opponents are 53-for-201). Philly has scored 10 shorthanded goals (2nd most in the NHL): three apiece for Scott Laughton and Konecny, one apiece for Noah Cates, Patrick Brown, Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen. The Canadiens have scored three SHGs.
Notable: The Habs are the NHL's seventh most-penalized team in terms of times shorthanded. The Flyers are the NHL's eighth least-penalized team in times shorthanded. Due primarily to fighting majors, the Flyers are the seventh most-penalized team in the NHL in average penalty minutes per game (10.3 PIM per game) while the Canadiens are the NHL's most penalized team in PIMs (12.5). The times shorthanded stat is, by far, the more important factor than average PIMs.
3. Provorov and Allison
There hasn't been much media discussion about the recent play of Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov but it should be noted that, over the last month or so, Provorov has played some of his best all-around hockey on a nearly every-game basis since the 2019-20 campaign.
The points may not show it (0g, 2a since the All-Star break, one goal and four assists in the last 14 games) but Prorovov has been playing quite well on both sides of the puck for the last five weeks. He's been especially good defensively, with his reads, body and stick positioning consistently being spot-on. When he has made a mistake, Provorov has recovered quickly. He's always been a minutes-eater and a player with a very high pain threshold but these traits have also stood out of late with Provorov often logging 23-plus minutes of ice time lately including 27:31 in 36 shifts in Monday's game in Calgary (the game in which Sanheim was a surprise healthy scratch).
The play of power forward Wade Allison during the recent road trip also deserves a positive mention heading into Friday's game against Montreal. Allison was arguably the Flyers' most effective forechecking forward during the road trip, winning the decided majority of his puck battles. He was also noticeable in getting to the net and has collected points in back-to-back games including a goal in the match in Edmonton heading into Friday's tilt.
4. Flyers line play
Friday's game is the start of a back-to-back set for the Flyers, meaning that goaltending duties over the weekend are likely to be split between Carter Hart and Samuel Ersson. Hart will start against the Habs, meaning that Ersson is the probable starter against the New Jersey Devils in Newark tomorrow night.
With one exception, the starting lineup from Tuesday's game in Edmonton appears likely to carry over to Friday's game in the ongoing absence of Travis Konecny. The Flyers will go with seven defensemen and 11 forwards against the Canadiens. Kieffer Bellows will exit the lineup and veteran defenseman Justin Braun will dress for the game.
21 Scott Laughton - 49 Noah Cates - 57 Wade Allison
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
62 Olle Lycksell - 13 Kevin Hayes - 86 Joel Farabee
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - xxxx
9 Ivan Provorov - 6 Travis Sanheim
45 Cam York - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]
With the Flyers continued struggles on the power play, the team may once again shuffle around the arrangement of power play personnel. They've moved players around often all season between the first and second units, with no lasting success. Offensive zone entries have arguably been the single biggest problem, especially when the initial faceoff is lost and the Flyers have to go the length of the ice to get set up. Even when Philly has been able to get the puck in deep, recoveries and set-up have often been problematic. Once set up, the Flyers generate pretty good puck movement but often with few prime scoring chances resulting.
As such it remains to be seen how the Flyers will arrange their PP personnel against the Canadiens. Ristolainen has been seeing use of late in a forward's role near the net. The holdover regulars are various combinations of DeAngelo, Hayes, Laughton, Frost, Tippett, JVR, York, Farabee or Cates.
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Montreal Canadiens
Arguably, the Canadiens' current lineup is more notable who is NOT in it as which players are available to suit up and play. All of the following nine players are on IR or LTIR: forwards Caufield, Brendan Gallagher, Juraj Slafkovsky, Paul Byron, Jake Evans, and Sean Monahan, defensemen Kaiden Guhle and Arber Xhekaj, and veteran goalie Carey Price.
Additionally Forward Kirby Dach is day-to-day due to illness/lower-body injury. He will not play against the Flyers. Joel Armia did not practice on Thursday and his status for Friday is questionable. Defenseman Chris Wideman is officially on the Canadiens' active roster but is week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Wideman is unavailable to play against the Flyers. Ditto veteran defenseman Joel Edmundson (undisclosed). Edmundson has reportedly been progressing well but has been out action since getting injured in his third shift of the Jan. 26 game against Detroit.
In Tuesday's 6-2 win over New Jersey, the Habs received goals from Justin Barron (2nd), Johnathan Kovacevic (2nd), Suzuki (18th), Rem Pitlick (4th) and Matheson (3rd). Suzuki had a two-point game (1g, 1a) as did Christian Dvorak (2a) and Matheson (1g, 1a). In net, Sam Montembeault made 38 saves on 40 shots to earn first-star honors for the game.
Projected lineup (based on last game)
49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard - 14 Nick Suzuki - 17 Josh Anderson
32 Rem Pitlick - 28 Christian Dvorak- 63 Evgenii Dadonov
68 Mike Hoffman - 27 Jonathan Drouin - 40 Joel Armia
55 Michael Pezzetta - 60 Alex Belzile - 56 Jesse Ylönen
8 Mike Matheson - 52 Justin Barron
54 Jordan Harris - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic
64 Corey Schueneman - 58 David Savard
34 Jake Allen
35 Sam Montembeault