It was obvious that after losing 5-0 on Friday, the Flyers would do their very best to bounce back tonight and bounce back they did. Carter Hart was impeccable tonight in what was a great goalie battle, you might say that the Habs rung a few shots off the posts (5) but that doesn’t count as beating the goalie, he’s protecting the net and not the post. Carey Price was no slouch himself, he only gave up the one goal which came early in the game and off a deflection. Voracek was the only scorer tonight in a tight contest that ended 1-0 for Philadelphia, allowing them to retake the lead in the series.
Scoracek. #AnytimeAnywhere | #PHIvsMTL pic.twitter.com/Rd02lBcMEa
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) August 17, 2020
To be fair, the game could have went either way but the Flyers seemed to want it more. They played a very physical game and they smothered the Canadiens by leaving them no space to work with. Philadelphia dished out 36 hits tonight while Montreal could only muster 23 and that was just a facet of Vigneault’s team’s domination. They were also much more disciplined and while the Canadiens penalty kill was perfect, the time spent killing penalties is time you do not spend attacking. Philly also had the lead in block shots with 24 to the Habs’ 10 and they never hesitated to throw themselves in front of shots no matter how much it may hurt.
Carey Price stopped 19 of the 20 shots he received and most of them reached him through heavy traffic. Tonight’s scenario must have felt all too familiar to Price, he’s got a .950 save percentage but still picks up the loss as his attack failed to produce. It’s not that the Habs didn’t shoot but when they did, Hart was great in rebound control and on the few occasions when he wasn’t able to keep the puck, his teammates were there to pick it up.
It was a tough night in the face-off circle for Jesperi Kotkaniemi (33.3%) and Nick Suzuki (44.4%), so much so that Domi ended up taking 6 face-offs himself. It was an equally tough night penalty wise with some of the usual suspects taking penalties the Habs could not afford. Domi suffered a huge brain cramp in the third period when a pointless slash sent him to the box for 2 minutes. Armia once again punched his ticket to the sin bin on a interference call and Kotkaniemi received 4 minutes for high sticking. On the blue line, Petry and Ouellet were the guilty party. While the penalty kill is doing admirable work right now, the Habs will need to wise up if they hope to come out on top in this fight.
Montreal won’t have to wait to long to get another kick at the can so to speak, game 4 will take place on Tuesday at 15:00. Yes, another late afternoon game, plan your schedule accordingly. This is when we’ll really see what this team is made of, after being shutout tonight, they will have to come back strong and be more creative offensively. Hopefully, Muller and co. have got a few aces up their sleeves!
â¤ï¸ @nhl pic.twitter.com/1kGbY9L2mH
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) August 17, 2020