In a tightly contested game, it was Carter Hart who grabbed his first career playoff shutout as he lead the Flyers to victory.
The Flyers came into Sunday night’s game with a few changes to their lineup. Michael Raffl re-entered the lineup as Joel Farabee came out. Robert Hagg also checked back in for Shayne Gostisbehere. Other than that, it was the same lineup from the previous game.
That included getting Travis Konecny back. He left during the third period after blocking a shot off his foot. It didn’t look good as he hobbled off the ice, but after a day off, he was good to go.
It was a feeling out process to start the game. The Flyers were much better defensively when Montreal did get a chance. And they did exactly what they needed to do to score on Carey Price. They had a skater right in his face.
Back to scoring the first goal of the game, Jakub Voracek grabbed his second goal of the playoffs. He parked himself in front of Price and was able to push the feed from Claude Giroux past the pads in front of him.
It was Giroux’s second point of the playoffs, but the first goal to come from the Flyers top line. That is exactly what the team needed, getting production from their top guys.
The Canadiens tried to come back with an answer, hitting the post on back to back shots from Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Brett Kulak.
The Flyers got the first power play chance in this one when Nate Thompson took a high stick. It turned out to be a double-minor as he was cut on the bridge of his nose. They could not get anything going on the first half of the man advantage, though.
Montreal was quick to fire the puck out of the zone as the Flyers could hardly get set up. The second half of the power play was much better, but they still had nothing to show for it. It was again Price that shot down any dangerous chances they had.
Their second power play of the period was more of the same. The Flyers managed to stay in the zone but couldn’t get anything on net. Joel Armia came back with his own chance as the power play expired and it was a good thing Carter Hart held onto the original shot. He was surrounded by Canadiens on the play.
But the Flyers did what they needed to do for most of that period. They got the first goal with traffic in front and weren’t sloppy in their own zone. It was already a much better effort than they started with on Friday. The power play still needed work, however, as they failed on three attempts.
Montreal came out flying to start the period. Scott Laughton almost gift wrapped a goal as his pass from behind the net went right onto the stick of Brendan Gallagher. Hart had to be sharp to stop that one.
The Canadiens got their first power play chance in the early minutes of the second period. It was Konecny heading to the box for cross-checking. Hart was tested early on the kill, but not much after that. The Flyers did a good of getting the puck out of the zone.
Another chance on the penalty kill, the Flyers ended up with a chance of their own. Derek Grant came in on a 2-on-1, but couldn’t beat Price. It did take quite a bit of time off the clock, though. Hart ended up shooting the puck out of play just as the penalty was expiring, giving Montreal another chance on the man advantage.
If only the Flyers power play could be as sharp as their penalty kill has been. Montreal would end up ending their own advantage, though, with an interference call. Not that Philadelphia did anything with it. Suzuki’s shorthanded chance was the best thing to come from it.
Montreal took some control back in the period, but the Flyers held the lead heading into the third period. And while they had trouble exiting their own zone early on in the third they did a good job of blocking shots away from Hart.
Another power play came and went for the Flyers as they couldn’t take advantage on their fifth attempt. Maybe their sixth attempt shortly after would do the job? If you guessed no, you would be right once again. They didn’t even have a shot on the last three attempts with the extra man.
The Canadiens went to the empty net with about two minutes left in the third period. The Flyers played with fire, icing the puck twice in a row. One when Tyler Pitlick tried to hit the empty net from the defensive zone.
The Flyers held on and they can once again thank Hart for that. He became the youngest Flyers goaltender to earn a playoff shutout. And he’s been the biggest reason the team is now up 2-1 in this series.
It was a better effort than Sunday, but it wasn’t quite the Flyers best effort of the playoffs. It was a tightly contested game throughout as we continued to see the low-scoring games we expected with this goaltending matchup.