To be fair, the Canadiens weren’t meant to make the playoffs. They got into the play-in round by the skin of their teeth and all experts agreed, they would spend the shortest of time in Toronto. The exhibition game they played in the bubble against the Leafs gave us no reason to believe that they would cause an upset. What no one knew though, was that Claude Julien would finally decide to trust his two very young centres. That is what made the difference. Of course, Price standing on his head was a major factor, but no one was surprised by that. Tonight, for the second time in this series, the Canadiens were on the brink of elimination. Only this time, they couldn’t rely on the ultimate spark plug, Brendan Gallagher, to get them going. I’ve said it time and time again, Gallagher is the heart of this team so losing him was a huge blow. Just like it was when they lost him as well during the season. Without number 11, Kirk Muller decided to go with the following lines: Tatar – Danault – Lehkonen Drouin – Suzuki – Armia Byron – Kotkaniemi – Domi Hudon – Evans – Belzile
Chiarot – Weber Kulak – Petry Mete – Ouellet
Unfortunately for the Canadiens, they did not get a single lucky bounce tonight. In the first minute of the first frame, the Flyers scored thanks to a deflection off Shea Weber. Not even 5 minutes later, they added a second goal which was scored by Lehkonen really. At that stage, the Habs could have just mailed it in, but they didn’t. They pushed back when Nick Suzuki scored on the power play to bring them within one. Both teams would add a goal in the 2nd, Raffl for the Flyers who made the most of a Canadiens’ turnover in the offensive zone and of the fact that Chiarot interfered with Price and Suzuki for the Habs. As for the 3rd, the Canadiens took 13 shots on goals and the Flyers were quite content to just defend and hang on to their lead. At the end of 60 minutes, it was 3-2 Philadelphia and the Flyers are now on their way to the second round while the Habs’ bubble just burst.
Cette passe parfaite avait juste besoin d'une petite tape.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) August 22, 2020
Perfect pass just needed a little tap.#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/OCxDNi6gyE
Even in defeat, there were some positives tonight:
-Nick Suzuki is a true first line centre and he has the potential to become a star in this league;
-Jonathan Drouin just clicked tonight with Suzuki and he looked like he really cared out there. This is the Drouin we want to see every game not just once in a while;
-Drouin, Suzuki and Armia were all used for over 19 minutes;
-Petry and Kulak once again played very well;
-The team has a whole stuck to playing its game tonight, they did not let the Flyers smother them like they did in games 3 and 4;
-Jake Evans had yet another great game and even earned himself a promotion on KK’s line and it looked better with him on it than with Domi.
On the other hand, there were also some negatives:
-Max Domi…he had a terrible game. He was responsible for 4 giveaways, was a -1 and just couldn’t complete any play. I had big hopes for Domi in the bubble, it was his chance to prove what he could do in a contract year, but he unfortunately didn’t seize the day. I’ll say more about this in the coming weeks, since we’ll have quite a few of those Habsless weeks.
-Shea Weber had a very rough game tonight. He was on the ice for every one of the Flyers goals and the first one deflected on him as mentioned earlier. He was beaten in a foot race that reminded us that speed has never been his strong suit and he took a shot off target in the dying minutes that went all the way back in the Canadiens’ zone, allowing Philadelphia to breathe. However, overall, he had great playoffs.
-It was yet another quiet night at the office for Tomas Tatar, he had a couple of shots on goal and was guilty of 2 turnovers. He really didn’t impress anyone in the bubble.
That being said, we knew right from the start what the Habs wanted from this years’ playoffs: for their young players to gain some experience and that goal has been reached. A season which should have ended in April got an unexpected second lease of life in the middle of summer and the kids were ready to play. All but one… If you are wondering why every single forward got a taste of the playoffs except for Ryan Poehling well, it’s quite simple. According to La Presse’s Mathias Brunet, Poehling showed up in Brossard having rested for most of the lockdown, saying that he needed the rest after a “big winter…… Unlike Kotkaniemi and Suzuki, he was not in game shape and that is why he had to watch as a spectator for the duration. Hopefully, he will have learnt his lesson, a professional hockey player doesn’t rest until it truly is over and even then, they’ll take a few weeks off before training again for the next season.
In the end, it’s still a shame that the Habs were eliminated tonight. Especially considring that the crucial final face-off was won by Nate Thompson who was treaded by Montreal at the deadline... Philadelphia did not really dominate the bleu,blanc,rouge, surprisingly enough, the Habs outscored the Flyers 13-11. Of the 10 goals scored by the Flyers when Price was in net, 6 were deflected by Habs players thus giving him next to no chance of stopping them. However, the Flyers and Carter Hart did blank Montreal twice and that was the difference maker. You may say that Hart had a lot of help from his posts but the fact is that when a shot hits the post, it means more often than not that the goaltender was giving the shooter no twine to shoot at. Throughout the series, Hart was the Flyers’ best player and it didn’t go unnoticed by his idol Carey Price who told him he’d keep an eye on him for the coming weeks in the handshake line. After years of desperately seeking a real number one goaltender, it looks like Philly finally found its very own Price.
Respect, @NHLFlyers. pic.twitter.com/eVejZTVIre
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) August 22, 2020