The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1, at Bell Centre on Thursday evening. A slow start to the game put the Flyers in a tough position. A desperation change in the third period -- hindered by two disallowed goals and strong goaltending by Montreal -- fell short.
In the first period, the Flyers generated an energetic first shift and an early power play. Thereafter, Philly couldn't sustain any meaningful attack.
The Canadiens took a 1-0 lead on a tic-tac-toe power play goal at 12:58 of the first period, finished off at the back door by Nick Suzuki (PPG. 30th goal of the season). The assists went to Juraj Slafkovsky and Mike Matheson.
Montreal made it 2-0 at 16:46 as the Flyers were guilty of loose coverage in their end of the. A Jayden Struble shot produced a rebound and Jese Ylönen (4th) potted it from the low slot. The assists went to Struble and Suzuki.
The second period was another frustrating one overall for the Flyers. To boil it down to one word: disconnected. Scoring chances remained hard to come by. Another power play failed to create quality scoring opportunities. The Flyers made a mini-push in the latter stages of the period, but the Canadiens responded near the end. Montreal took their 2-0 lead into the third period.
Philadelphia made a very heavy push in the third period. Ultimately, it wasn't good enough.
Garnet Hathaway seemingly narrowed the gap to one goal at 1:43 of the third period in a scramble at the net. Farabee put the puck at the net, Ryan Poehling got a piece of the puck and Hathaway put it in off his right skate. After a review, the goal was disallowed for a distinct kicking motion.
Morgan Frost (or possibly Tyson Foerster) scored at 5:48 but the goal was disallowed again. On a coach's challenge one came off the board for an offside by Tyson Foerster on the initial entry by Frost before passing to Konecny. Konecny attempted a shot. Frost retrieved the puck quickly behind the net and centered the puck in front, intended for Foerster. The puck bounced in, apparently off a Montreal player. The play went for naught on the offside challenge by Montreal.
Montreal had a would-be goal of their own disallowed at 10:49 of the third period for a high sticked puck by Suzuki.
With the Flyers attacking 5-on-4 (empty net behind them), Joel Armia (13th) scored an empty net goal from the Flyers' blueline. The assists went to Mike Matheson and Kaiden Guhle at 17:07 of the third period.
Owen Tippett (27th) scored with 1:01 left in regulation with a shot from the right circle. The assists went to Hathaway and Konecny. Jake Evans (6th) added an empty netter at 19:56 on a puck that had enough to go in from the red line. The assists went to Matheson and Armia.
In a losing cause, Samuel Ersson stopped 14 of 16 shots. Cayden Primeau stopped 29 of 30 shots, with 15 saves coming in the third period.
The Flyers went 0-for-4 on the power play. The Canadiens were 1-for-2.
Noah Cates missed the game for personal reasons. Cam Atkinson returned to the lineup.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 11 Travis Konecny
86 Joel Farabee - 21 Scott Laughton - 10 Bobby Brink
71 Tyson Foerster - 25 Ryan Poehling - 19 Garnet Hathaway
62 Olle Lycksell - 14 Sean Couturier - 89 Cam Atkinson
8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
5 Egor Zamula - 77 Erik Johnson
50 Adam Ginning - 23 Ronnie Attard
33 Samuel Ersson
[32 Felix Sandström]
TURNING POINT
Loose coverage by the Flyers proved costly twice in the first period. The penalty kill, which has struggled for the last 10 games, has become a concern down the stretch.
POSTGAME 5
1) The Flyers' top line pressured on the game's first shift. Konecny was unable to get a loose rebound off a Tippett shot. Ginning took down Jake Evans in the neutral zone. No call was forthcoming, despite the protests of the Bell Centre crowd.
Four minutes into the period, Cole Caufield used Sanheim as a screen, forcing Ersson to make a difficult save. The Laughton line iced the puck at 5:01.
The Flyers went to the game's first power play at 6:47 as Arber Xhekaj slashed the stick out of Foerster's hands in the neutral zone. The Flyers, featuring different personnel mixed across the PP units, generated some good puck movement and two shots on net but no bonafide scoring chances.
Through the 10-minute mark, shots were 4-2 Flyes. The Canadiens generated a shift in the Flyers' zone but play was entirely confined to the perimeter.
At 11:37, Montreal went to their first power play. Sanheim was penalized for interference on Evans as the Flyers were breaking out of the defensive zone. With 40 seconds remaining, Suzuki scored.
The Canadiens had the better of the next several shifts after the power play goal. Ylönen made it 2-0 at 16:46 on Montreal's fifth shot of the period.
A scrum broke out as the period ended. Laughton and Xhekaj received offsetting roughing minors.
2) First period shots on goal were 6-4 Montreal. Shot attempts were 25-9 Canadiens Scoring chances were 5-4 Montreal. High-danger scoring chances were 3-1 Montreal. Faceoffs were 10-8 Canadiens.
3) The second period started with two minutes of 4-on-4 play. Tippett and Frost had a 2-on-1 late on their shift. Offsetting penalties on Tippett (cross-checking) and Struble were called after the whistle at 1:36.
As play went back to 5-on-5, Slafkovsky blew past Laughton one-on-one and took the puck to the net. Ersson made the save. The Flyers killed this one off. Adam Ginning turned in some good work late in the kill.
Attard was called for a defensive zone tripping penalty on Ylönen along the boards at 6:40.
The Frost line generated the first significant attacking shift of the second period Through the midpoint of the second frame shots on goal were 3-2 Habs. (8-7 Montreal for the first 30 minutes of the game).
Philadelphia went to their second power play as Colin White slashed Laughton on the hands at 11:51. The power play did not create anything dangerous.
Atkinson and Brink set up a look for Poehling from the deep slot. The puck was deflected out of play off Atkinson. On the next shift, Konecny deflected a Zamula shot-pass on net and then delivered a hit on Kaiden Guhle in the corner.
Farabee and Poehling had a 2-on-1 rush. Farabee elected to shoot and was stopped by Primeau. Ersson stopped a heavily screened deflection as time ticked down to the final minute of the period. Struble backhanded a shot off the right post from near the hash marks.
4) Second period shots on goal were 9-6 Flyers (14-12 Flyers overall). Scoring chances were 8-6 Flyers (12-11 Flyers overall). High-danger scoring chances were 3-2 Flyers (5-4 Canadiens overall). Faceoffs were 6-5 Flyers (15-14 Montreal overall).
5) A line of Tippett, Frost and Brink started the third period. The Canadiens quickly iced the puck twice. At 1:43, the Flyers got the consolation prize of a power play (Anderson for hooking) after the disallowed Hathway kick. The Flyers didn't capitalize.
At 5:48, another Flyers goal came off the board.
The Flyers went back to the attack, generating their fourth power play at 7:20 as Xhekaj was called for hooking. Konecny hit the post on a cross-seam feed from Tippett. Primeau stopped a left circle shot from Konecny.
Ersson had not seen a single shot on goal as Suzuki played the puck with a high-stick and then batted it a second time -- this time below the crossbar. His first official save came at 12:03 on a close-range chance by Armia.
Johnson erased a Brink turnover with a shot block on Caufield. Near the 14-minute mark, Laughton had a prime scoring chance. At 14:55, Konecny had a shot blocked out of play. With 3:30 to 3:21 left, Farabee and Frost each came within a whisker of a goal. After the whistle, Evans (roughing) and Hathaway (slashing) received offsetting minors.
The Flyers pulled Ersson for a 5-on-5. Armia scored an empty netter. Tippett scored. Ersson was pulled again. Evans bagged a second empty net goal for Montreal.
Third period shots on goal were 16-5 Flyers (30-17 Flyers overall). Shot attempts were 36-10 Flyers (62-42 Flyers overall). Scoring chances were 16-5 Flyers (28-17 Flyers overall). High-danger scoring chances were 6-1 Flyers (10-6 Flyers overall). Faceoffs were 15-14 Flyers (29-28 Flyers overall).
