After getting back on track with a win in their last game, the Flyers will be looking to put the Canadiens on the brink this afternoon.
With a one game advantage in the series, the Flyers will be looking to put Montreal on the brink of elimination when they face off this afternoon. On the back of Carter Hart’s first postseason shutout, Philadelphia is just two games away from moving on to the second round.
They’ll be looking for more offense as they managed to squeak by with just one goal in the victory. They’ve only scored three goals total in this series. That’s not a surprise with Carey Price doing what he can to keep Montreal close.
The Flyers were much better on the defensive end in this game. They did give up a few short handed chances, though. So they will need to clean that up for sure. And getting the power play going is a huge need. They failed on six chances on Sunday, making the game closer than it could have been.
The Flyers power play is running at a measly 4%, the worst among all teams. That includes teams that were eliminated via the play-in round. They’ve scored one goal in 25 opportunities with the man advantage. That comes averaging about seven minutes per game while on the power play. A lack of success with this unit will come back to bit than sooner rather than later.
We could see some changes to the unit moving forward. The Flyers did try to make some tweaks on Sunday, giving Derek Grant a shot on the unit. But they’ll need to do more than that to get the unit firing again.
That is the biggest key to victory. Montreal has given them chances this series. The Flyers have had 14 power play opportunities, only scoring on one during the first game of the series. Montreal has been slightly better, scoring on three out of their 12 chances.
It’s the penalty kills that have shined for both squads. That is a unit that has worked hard for the Flyers this season. The Montreal unit, on the other hand, is not as strong of a group. But they are doing enough to limit the scoring. They’ve almost had a few shorthanded goals during this series.
While Hart has been able to do his job throughout this series, the team in front of him has had a hard time putting together back to back strong efforts. They’ll have a chance to do that this afternoon.