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Wrap: Flyers Fall Hard in Game 2, 5-0 |
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Wrap: Flyers Fall Hard in Game 2, 5-0
The Montreal Canadiens shredded the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-0, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at Scotiabank Center in Toronto on Friday afternoon. The series is now tied at one game apiece. Game 3 is in Sunday.
After allowing a combined four goals in going 4-0 across the three-game round robin and the first game of this series, the Flyers did very little right on either side of the puck in getting shellacked by the Habs on Friday.
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 much of the game, Carey Price saw little beyond routine, clear-sighted shots. He finished with a 30-save shutout.
Game 1 of the series saw the Flyers enjoy a solid first period (1-0 lead on the scoreboard, 11-5 shot edge, 54.29% Corsi) and a very strong closeout to slam the door with a 2-1 lead in the third period (13-6 shot edge, 58.33% Corsi). The second period, though, was very ugly. 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.
The first period of Game 2 was like the second period of the first game on steroids. It was one of the worst 20 minutes of hockey the Flyers have played all season, and the fired-up Habs (playing not only to tie the series but also in honor of hospitalized head coach Claude Julien) forechecked and skated with super-charged energy.
"We got our butts kicked today in all facets of the game. They outworked us, outplayed us and out-executed us," said Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault.
"Montreal’s will tonight to play the right way and to do the right things was much higher than ours. At this time of the year with the importance of the game, you’re certainly don’t expect that. At the end of the day, we’re going to have to turn the page, move on and get ready for the next one because there’s no doubt that they’re ready."
Philly had not trailed in any game of the postseason heading into Friday. That took just 62 seconds to change in Game 2. The Flyers lost a battle in their own zone, the coverage by Travis Sanheim and Phil Myers got scrambled with both players on the right side of the net, no forwards helped out in front of the net and Tatar was left all alone in the left slot to take a pass from Brendan Gallagher. Tatar made no mistake.
Things rolled downhill from there. How ugly was it? The Habs registered each of the game's first 13 shots on goal (16-6 overall) and enjoyed a ridiculous 75% Corsi along with an 18-5 scoring chance disparity and 8-2 high-danger chance edge.
The Flyers actually did have one early chance to stop the bleeding and possibly even reverse the momentum. Kevin Hayes led a shorthanded 2-on-1 rush with Nate Thompson in the box for slashing. Hayes elected to shoot from the left circle, trying to go high to the long side. He missed the target.
Through five postseason games, none among Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux, Hayes, Travis Konecny or James van Riemsdyk has scored a goal to date. This needs to change, and fast.
"Whether it be in-season hockey or playoff hockey, you need your top players to be driving the bus. Right now, I know that their intentions are good, but it has to transform itself on the ice surface. Tonight, the total team was off. We hadn’t had one of those in a long time. We’ve been playing some pretty good hockey lately. At the same time, we picked a bad time to play a bad game, but we did," Vigneault said.
Kotkaniemi, untouched at the doorstep, potted a power play rebound against Hart (who was without his goalie stick) at 12:36 of the first period. Jonathan Drouin and Domi were credited with the assists.
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.
A tire fire of an opening stanza ended with the Flyers coughing up a partial breakaway. Shayne Gostisbehere was called for a very marginal hold by the trailing referee with seven seconds left in the period. Early in the second period, the Canadiens converted the power play into a 3-0 lead.
The Flyers'played a little better as the second period moved along, but only because it would have almost impossible for Montreal to sustain the same level of dominance or for Philadelphia to be as spectacularly awful for another full period. Overall, Philadelphia had a 15-11 shot edge and five high-danger chances but they remained mistake-prone in their own of the ice and did not get many second-crack opportunities in the offensive zone. So, to call it an "improved" period by the Flyers is a very generous description.
Instead of climbing back into the game, the Flyers' deficit doubled. Hard to call that improvement.
At 1:25 of the second period, defenseman Justin Braun heavily screened his own goaltender and Hart never saw Tatar's shot from the left circle until it was too late. The puck went off the post and into the net to make it 3-0 on Montreal's second power play goal of the game. Domi and Victor Mete got the assists.
Overall, the Canadiens went 2-for-6 on the power play. They are 3-for-7 on the series after failing to score on the man advantage in their best-of-five qualification round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Flyers, meanwhile, started out the postseason 9-for-10 on the PK but are just 4-for-7 in this series.
The Flyers power play remains AWOL in the postseason, apart from a double deflection power play goal on their first opportunity of Game 1. After going 0-for-11 in the round robin and 1-for-3 in the series opener against Montreal, Philadelphia went 0-for-5 on Friday. The Flyers killed their own chance at any momentum as they came up empty on a two-man advantage in Game 2 as well all of their other opportunities.
When the Flyers weren't forcing cross-seam passes that got intercepted, they were settling for unscreened point shots. Price easily snapped up whatever got to him and one power play after another went by with no payoff for the Flyers.
The end game for Hart after a sequence where the Flyers turned the puck over twice, prolonging possession for Montreal. Braun then was unable to knock down an aerial puck and a shot by Armia deflected off Gostisbehere's right skate, severely changed directions and beat Hart between the pads as he opened up. The assists went to Jake Evans and Alex Belzile.
Late in the second period, Domi stupidly steamrolled Elliott as he drove the net; not making any effort whatsoever to avoid or limit the contact. The Flyers were already in a 4-0 crater at that point and there was no benefit to Domi doing what he did. Philadelphia also did not muster much of a response, including another failed power play.
"I think the energy’s there. I believe that every guy on our team gives their best effort every time they step foot on that ice. Pucks didn’t go our way tonight. They handed it to us pretty badly tonight. There’s no question in my mind that we have guys on our team that step on that ice, want to win and try their hardest to accomplish that. Like I said, we’ll go back, watch and learn from it. We’ll be better in Game 3," Hayes said.
The third period was a formality. The Flyers' frustrations showed and the Habs were never in any danger. Kotkaniemi scored a nice goal, cutting across the right circle and scoring on Elliott from inside the hash marks. The only remaining suspense was whether Price would get a shutout. A shot block by Shea Weber in front of another wide open net prevented a would-be shorthanded goal for the Flyers and basically sealed the shutout.
Further adding to the Flyers' woes, Travis Konecny limped off the ice in the latter part of the third after painfully blocking a shot off his foot. It is unlikely there will be an update before Vigneault's press availability on Sunday. Even then, there won't be much said except whether he's unavailable to play or might be in the lineup.
On a somewhat brighter note, Michael Raffl (suspected lower-body injury suffered in the third period of the round-robin opener) was able to skate in warmups with the Flyers before the game. The Flyers have an off-day on Saturday. Game time on Sunday is at 8 p.m. ET.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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