Gameday Preview: Flyers vs. Canadiens
In the fifth game of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers will take on Claude Julien's Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Wednesday. Game time is 8:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised nationally on NBCSN.
Julien was hospitalized after suffering chest pains on the night following Game One of the series. The 60-year-old Jack Adams Award and Stanley Cup-winning coach is not expected to be able to return to the team this series. Associate coach Kirk Muller is serving as interim head coach in his absence.
The Flyers, who have an opportunity to close out the series, are the designated home team for Game 5 of the series. As such, Philadelphia will have last line change.
Series Synopsis
In Game 1, the Flyers had the better of play in the first and third periods, particularly the final stanza. In the first period, the Flyers exited with 1-0 lead on the scoreboard, an 11-5 shot edge, and a 54.29% Corsi. In the third period, Philly staged a strong closeout to slam the door with a one goal lead: a 13-6 shot edge for the Flyers, and a 58.33% team Corsi. Montreal barely got a sniff at a comeback.
The second period, though, was very ugly for Philadelphia. The Flyers were utterly caved in that frame and were very lucky to get to the second intermission with a 2-1 lead. Montreal racked up a 17-7 shot edge, a 71.43% Corsi and a 15-6 scoring chance edge including a half-dozen high-danger chances. Owed primarily to stellar goaltending, the Flyers were fortunate to go to intermission with the 2-1 lead they maintained the rest of the way.
A power play goal by Jakub Voracek (1st goal of the playoffs), which was originally credited to Ivan Provorov, staked the Flyers to a 1-0 lead. Shea Weber (3rd) knotted the game briefly in the latter portion of the second period only for Joel Farabee (2nd) to put the Flyers back ahead to stay just 16 seconds after play resumed. Carter Hart (27 saves on 28 shots) made the lead hold up, defeating Carey Price (29 saves on 31 shots). The Flyers went 1-for-3 on the power play. The Canadiens went 1-for-1.
Game 2 was like the second period of Game 1, except on steroids. The Habs dominated and battered the Flyers from pillar to post on the way to a 5-0 shellacking. Montreal, by a huge margin, outskated, outforechecked, outbackchecked, outworked in the trenches and were also the more physical team when it mattered. Special teams were also lopsided, with the Flyers going 0-for-5 on the power play and the Canadiens going 2-for-6.
Tomas Tatar (1st and 2nd of the playoffs) and Jesperi Kotkaniemi (3rd and 4th) scored two goals apiece for Montreal, with both players tallying even strength and power play goals. Joel Armia (1st) also scored for the Habs. Max Domi collected three assists.
For most of Game 2, Price saw little beyond routine, clear-sighted shots. He finished with a 30-save shutout. Hart, who lasted 37:57 and stopped 22 of 26 shots, was utterly hung out to dry on all four Montreal goals he allowed before giving way to Brian Elliott (five saves on six shots) for the rest of the game. If not for Hart, the score easily could have been 5-0 or 6-0 by the end of the first period.
In Game 3, the Flyers grinded out a 1-0 victory, as Hart recorded a 23-save shutout and the team made its one-goal lead stand up the rest of the way after a Voracek deflection goal on a set play at 5:21 of the first period. Giroux and Robert Hägg earned the assists.
From a Corsi standpoint, the Canadiens got the better of Game 3. However, per Natural Stat Trick, Montreal had just four high-danger chances for the game and only one in the third period. There wasn't much operating room for either team, and Philly was limited to 20 shots.
VIgneault said his team had to "grease it out" to win Game 3. He was referring to strong checking, hard-hitting (36-23 edge), shot-blocking (24, including a half-dozen by Matt Niskanen), and strong penalty killing (3-for-3), plus several critical saves by Hart.
In Game 4, an early first-period goal by Michael Raffl (2nd) was supplemented by a late second-period tally by Phil Myers (2nd). Hart recorded a 29-save shutout, his second in a row in the series, while Price stopped 20 of 22 shots by the Flyers. The Myers goal was one he'd ordinarily save, although it was partially deflected.
For a full recap, highlights and analysis from Game 4,
click here.
Flyers Outlook
On Tuesday, Hart became the third goaltender in Flyers' franchise history -- Bernie Parent was the first and Michael Leighton during the 2010 Eastern Conference Final against Montreal was the most recent -- to record back-to-back shutouts in the playoffs.
On Wednesday, apart from looking (most likely) to Hart to help the team to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the first time since 2012, the Flyers will ask Hart to do something he's only done once in his NHL career to date: start games on back-to-back days. Assuming he gets the start will mark the first time as a pro that he's started three games in four nights.
Vigneault made two personnel changes in Game 4. With Nicolas Aube-Kubel unavailable for undisclosed reasons (but quite possibly due to an apparent lower-body injury sustained in blocking a pair of shots off his skate and hobbling both times back to the bench in Game 3 on Sunday), the Flyers inserted Connor Bunnaman in the lineup for the first time in the series.
Additionally, and more notably, James van Riemsdyk was a healthy scratch in Game 4 and Joel Farabee re-entered the Flyers lineup after being scratched in Game 3.
Right from the outset of Game 4, Vigneault mixed and matched forward line combinations frequently. This included Giroux playing many shifts on a line with Derek Grant while Raffl (who sniped a high blocker side goal over Price to establish an early lead for Philadelphia) went to Couturier's line.
"Just about sometimes you need balance. I thought that would give us maybe a little better balance throughout our four lines. It also gave us a couple good faceoff lines. In that aspect, I thought it would help us maybe a little. At the end of the day, it’s a little more about the execution, the will and the compete. Both teams are doing a lot of that right now," Vigneault said.
The Flyers coach also praised the collective team defense the Flyers have played in front of Hart in three of the series' four games as well as the team's 22-year-old netminder's sharpness and focus when he's been needed to make saves.
"There’s no doubt that Carter’s a huge part of this. We’re not playing perfect hockey. Without out a doubt, when we do make mistakes, he’s been able to get that big save for us. In front of him, also there’s a lot of effort going on there, both to be in the right position and obviously to block shots. There were a couple very desperate plays on our part from guys that got in the way and that’s a big part of finding ways to win. Those defensive plays are as important as the offensive part," Vigneault said.
The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play in Game 4 to fall to 1-for-28 on the postseason and 1-for-17 on the series. However, there were signs of progress in first-unit entries and puck movement.
In Wednesday's game, Couturier had a pair of glorious scoring chances set up by Giroux get ever-so-slightly disrupted by Weber, and Price had to react fast to deny a quick sharp-angle shot by Voracek on a set play where Giroux banked the puck to his longtime linemate off the end boards.
Canadiens Outlook
The Habs went with the same lineup in Game 4 as they did in Games 2 and 3 (and the only personnel difference between Game 1 and the next three games was the replacement of Dale Weise with Jake Evans). However, with the team scuffling for goals and looking desperately to generate more high-quality scoring chances, they also shuffled around combos in Game 4.
Ben Chiarot had a rough afternoon in Game 4, getting himself caught up ice on three separate Flyers odd-man rushes. None resulted in goals but it was, by far, the defenseman's least effective outing of the series to date.
Up front, Nick Suzuki led all skaters with a half-dozen shots on goal. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who has been a force at times in the series, was much quieter on Game 4 (one shot on goal, two shot attempts, 1-for-7 on faceoffs), although he did get credited with four hits and a pair of takeaways. As a team, Montreal won only 35 percent of the draws in Game 4.
After scoring on three of their first seven power plays in the series, the Canadiens have been blanked on a combined five power plays the last two games. In fact, on several of these man advantages, the only notable scoring chances have been potential Flyers' counterattacks.
Former NHL goaltender Martin Biron, who backstopped the Flyers to a five-game victory over Montreal in the 2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals, tweeted on Tuesday evening that Raffl's goal, although a perfect shot, was one where Price was slightly off his angle. The second goal, as noted earlier, was partially deflected right off Myers' shot from the right half boards, but was normally one that Price would still stop. He got a bit handcuffed on that one.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
12 Michael Raffl - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
49 Joel Farabee - 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
28 Claude Giroux - 38 Derek Grant - 21 Scott Laughton
82 Connor Bunnaman - 44 Nate Thompson - 18 Tyler Pitlick
9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim - 5 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hägg - 61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart
[37 Brian Elliott]
CANADIENS
90 Tomas Tatar - 24 Phillip Danault - 11 Brendan Gallagher
13 Max Domi - 14 Nick Suzuki - 92 Jonathan Drouin
41 Paul Byron - 15 Jesperi Kotkaniemi - 62 Artturi Lehkonen
54 Charles Hudon - 71 Jake Evans- 40 Joel Armia
8 Ben Chiarot - 6 Shea Weber
77 Brett Kulak - 26 Jeff Petry
61 Xavier Ouellet - 53 Victor Mete
31 Carey Price
[39 Charlie Lindgren]
Comparative Team Stats(League ranking, via NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick)
GPG: PHI 3.29 (7th), MTL 2.93 (19th)
GAA: PHI 2.77(T-7th), MTL 3.10 (T-19th)
5-on-5: PHI +18 (153-135), MTL +15 (157-142)
Power Play: PHI 20.8% (14th), MTL 17.7% (22nd)
Penalty Kill: PHI 81.8% (11th), MTL 78.7% (19th)
Special Teams Index: PHI 102.6, MTL 96.4
SHG: PHI 8 (T-6th), MTL 6 (T-10th)
SHGA: PHI 6 (T-14th), MTL 5 (T-7th)
Average Shots: PHI 31.4 (16th), MTL 34.1 (2nd)
Shots Against: PHI 28.7 (1st), MTL 31.1 (T-13th)
Corsi: PHI 51.02% (9th), MTL 54.43% (2nd)
Scoring chances: PHI 50.91% (13th), MTL 51.44% (11th)
High-danger chances: PHI 50.83% (12th), MTL 54.64% (3rd)
Expected goal differential: PHI 50.64 (14th), MTL 54.01% (2nd)
Faceoffs: PHI 54.6% (1st), MTL 50.4% (12th)
Series Schedule
Wednesday, August 12 - Flyers 2 - Canadiens 1
Friday, August 14 - Canadiens 5 - Flyers 0
Sunday, August 16 - Flyers 1 - Canadiens 0
Tuesday, August 18 - Flyers 2 - Canadiens 0
Wednesday, August 19 – 8:00 PM
Friday, August 21 – TBD*
Sunday, August 23 – TBD*
*if necessary
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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