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If the Flyers thought they were in for an easy game last night, they were sorely mistaken. The Canadiens had no pity and exploded in the second frame. For once, the goals weren’t all thanks to the first line, every single line got in on that party.
For the first time in his young career, Juraj Slafkovsky scored a hat trick, and he did it in great fashion, each of his goals being different. The Young Slovak is doing it all, whether it’s on a breakaway, taping in a brilliant Suzuki pass on the doorstep, or taking a well-aimed shot at the net during open play, he converts. His progression this season has been amazing, he skates with much more confidence and purpose, and he knows where he’s going and where his linemates are going, If the plan has to change, he can do it in the blink of an eye without panicking. Even his decision-making has improved by leaps and bounds and he’s now so steady on his skates, he knows how to use his body. Slowly but surely, Slafkovsky is winning over those who doubted him at the draft. It's also worth mentioning that Slafkovsky is the second youngest player to get a hat-trick in the Canadiens' uniform, second only to Stephane Richer.
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Christian Dvorak, who had missed the last 42 games because of a torn pectoral muscle, was centering the fourth line and managed to score two goals. It must have been a great feeling after being ruled out for the season and managing to come back with five games left. He now has nine points in 26 games this season, it’s not great production, he’ll never produce as much as someone who costs a first and a second-round pick should. Finishing the season strong could be a great confidence boost for him however and perhaps he’ll be in a good frame of mind next season when he's playing in a contract year.
Joel Armia picked up his 17th goal of the season, a new personal mark for him. As for alternate captain Brendan Gallagher he had a good night with two goals and an assist. One of his goals was scored on the breakaway and the RDS play-by-play guy said: ” and Gallagher outskates them, they cannot catch him up!”. That simple comment made me realize that the Flyers were completely out of gas and deflated, I mean Gallagher has never been and will never be speedy.
Overall, this was a great team win. All but two forwards (Evans and Pezzetta) got at least a point and four of the six defensemen did as well, Barron and Struble were held off the scoresheet. I expected John Tortorella to be livid and borderline hostile in his post-game presser, but the bench boss was eerily calm, the main takeaway from the five minutes he spent with the media is that his team needs to get its dignity back. With three games left and 83 points, the Flyers are not mathematically eliminated, but it’s not looking good.
The Canadiens have a day off today as they’re traveling to Long Island to take on Patrick Roy and his Islanders tomorrow night. After that, they’ll only have three games left, one against the Sens and two against the Red Wings. Then, on April 17th, the team will be in Brossard for one last time this season as the players will have their exit interviews and clean out their locker.
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