Philadelphia Flyers: Looking for 2-0 series lead over Montreal

The Flyers are looking to earn another victory against the Montreal Canadiens this afternoon.

After winning that first battle on Wednesday, the Flyers and Canadiens are back on the ice for their second game. They’ll get the earlier game this time, the first to be played on the Toronto ice on Friday.

The Flyers will be looking to better handle themselves against Montreal. Though they came out on top on Wednesday, the Canadiens threw all they had at them. It was the play of Carter Hart that truly won the game for the Flyers.

They’ll need to be stronger against a Montreal that that clearly isn’t afraid of them. That means better breakouts from their own zone and fewer turnovers in dangerous spots on the ice.

And it looks like it’ll be the same lineup on the ice for Philadelphia. Alain Vigneault had praise for each player that was inserted back into the lineup for the opening game of the series.

That means Shayne Gostisbehere should remain in the lineup. It also means we may see James van Riemsdyk remain on the fourth line while Jakub Voracek stays on the third line. Joel Farabee has impressed in his top-line duties and should see some more time there for at least another game.

All three players had strong efforts in their new spots in the lineup. So for now, it looks like they will remain where they started the series.

The Flyers will need to find answers for a player such as Joel Armia. He seemed to fire at will on Wednesday night, credited with six shots. Only Brendan Gallagher (7) had more shots on net. Artturi Lehkonen seemed to around the net often as well.

The Flyers did a good job at keeping Montreal to the perimeter at times. Not allowing them to get into Hart’s crease and create chaos will be important once again. Though it’s been clear that Hart is more than willing to step up to the challenge.

He has been phenomenal since arriving in Toronto. He and the Flyers will look to continue that play later on this afternoon.