Game 3 Wrap: Flyers Nip Habs, 1-0
It wasn't pretty and it wasn't easy but the Philadelphia Flyers prevailed, 1-0, over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on Sunday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. With the Flyers continuing to struggle mightily on the power play (0-for-6), it took a generally strong checking, hard-hitting (36-23 edge), shot-blocking (24, including a half-dozen by Matt Niskanen), grind-it-out and strong penalty killing night (3-for-3) to make a 1-0 lead hold up for 54-plus minutes.
There were some breakdowns and turnovers along the way. Luckily for the Flyers, although Carter Hart wasn't tested much in quantity of shots, he stepped up huge on some prime Montreal scoring chances to record a 23-save shutout.
Most notably, Hart erased two horrific giveaways by Scott Laughton, a shorthanded 2-on-1 and a late-game one-on-one chance (developing into a 2-on-0) when Jesperi Kotkaniemi broke through the Flyers' defense. In so doing, Hart became the youngest goaltender in Flyers history to record a playoff shutout.
A deflection goal early in the first period by Jakub Voracek (2nd goal of the playoffs and in the series) was the extent of the scoring for either team. On what looked like a set play off the faceoff, Voracek got himself to the net. Giroux threw the puck hard at the net from the left side and Voracek got a piece of it for a deflection goal at 5:21. Robert Hà¤gg got the secondary assist. It wasn't pretty, but it loomed huge on this night.
"It was a set play. We talked about it. G’s going to pop and throw it to the net. I scored two goals and I didn’t need a stick yet. I think that’s a positive thing," Voracek said.
Both teams had some near misses. Montreal hit the post three times, and the Flyers did once.
"It was a greasy hockey game. Sometimes you get these where guys are working extremely hard, not giving themselves or the opposition a lot of room. You just got to grease it out. That’s what we did," Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said.
Getting traffic at the net contributed to the Flyers first scoring chance and, shortly, thereafter, created their first goal. Later, a four-minute power play by the Flyers accomplished very little but Travis Konecny drew iron on a shot through traffic and Voracek made a nice power move to the net in the latter part of the power play. A subsequent power play produced better possession and puck movement but no goal.
Hart made the game's first tough save, denying Brett Kulak joining the rush. Later, Kotkaniemi and Kulak hit the post with the same shift. Later, the Kotaniemi line hemmed in the Thompson line. Overall, though, the Flyers played much better defense in the opening period than they did in any period of Game 2. Shots were 8-5 Flyers. Philly won 14 of 22 faceofs (Thompson led at 4-for-5). Hits were 14-11 in the Flyers' favor.
The second period was a physical, grinding frame with both teams generally playing solid defense. The Flyers' penalty kill stepped up in this stanza while the power play continued to struggle. Two uncharacteristic terrible giveaways by Scott Laughton -- one to Brendan Gallager in the slot after a backhanded flip from behind the net, the second to Jonathan Drouin right over the middle in the defensive zone -- were erased by Hart.
Travis Sanheim had a strong period from the back end, on both sides of the puck. The Flyers as a team did a good job at finishing checks (an open ice hit in the defensive zone by Konecny on Victor Mete stood out, as did a crunching hit deep in the Montreal end by Tyler Pitlick stood out).
The Flyers continued to emphasize getting traffic to the net, but generated too few actual shots. Nic Aube-Kubel paid the price on a late period shot block, but it was a timely one. Shots in the second period were 8-6 in the Canadiens' favor. Hits were 13-2 in the Flyers favor (27-13 overall) The Flyers won 11 of 20 faceoffs (Giroux was 7-for-10 through two periods).
The Canadiens kept on taking stick penalties in the third period, and the Flyers continued to scuffle to generate any pressure. At least it killed clock. Hart came up with some big saves when he had, including one on a shorthanded counterattack by Lehkonen.
"There’s no doubt that our power play needs to get better. We got a day here to look at a couple of things there. It’s not from bad intentions. Give Montreal some credit. They did a great job killing those penalties tonight. We have to make a few adjustments. We’ll look to do that," Vigneault said.
Unlike the third period of Game 1, where the Flyers had a notable territorial edge, too much of the early portion of this period was spent in the Flyers' zone. Philly bent early but didn't break.
After a couple of icings by the Flyers (one by Tyler Pitlick and one by Michael Raffl), Hart denied Kotkaniemi point blank after he broke through the Flyers defense. Philly was able to hold on. Third period shots were 10-6 Montreal; hardly the sort of closeout the Flyers had in Game 1 but good enough on this night.
Game 4 is on Tuesday and Game 5 is on Wednesday.