The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Montreal Canadiens in overtime, 4-3, at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday evening. The Flyers held three separate one-goal leads in regulation but were unable to close it out. Montreal tied it in the final minute of regulation and then Cole Caufield (9th goal of the season) won it in overtime.
For the Flyers, the lead never felt comfortable. The botched closeout -- with a late game power play that carried into OT, two costly turnovers, absent coverage on the tying goal and a general lack of assertiveness with the game on the line -- was galling.
"I mean we spent a lot of time this morning talking about showing a team like Florida, showing a team like Carolina. It’s the things that you do to win games, and still before that moment in the game, I’m sure you guys probably agree, it’s not like we all felt real good about our game. Even when we had the lead," Flyers head coach Mike Yeo said.
"So, again, we’re going to have to keep finding ways to get players to understand that you can play the way you want to play, or you can play winning hockey. Again I think that there were things that you can look at, our defensive game is getting better, and blah blah blah that’s nice but that’s what you have to do, that's what you’re supposed to do. And there’s a way to play with the puck where you’re not turning it over and giving free ice and giving freebies to a team that has skill. We still refuse to do that."
Yeo then added, " Just keep finding ways. Again, take ice time away, put guys on the fourth line, scratch guys if we have to. I don’t even know if we have enough to call guys up. These are veteran players we’re going to have to do it to too. Got to get the job done."
Kevin Hayes (4th goal of the season) gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the first period. The tally was the lone goal of the opening stanza for either team.
Early in the second period, a power play goal by Nick Suzuki (15th) knotted the score at 1-1. A double-milestone goal by Claude Giroux (18th) briefly put the Flyers ahead before Suzuki scored again (16th) barely over a minute later.
For Giroux, it was the 900th point of his NHL career. It was also his 291st goal, moving him past Hockey Hall of Fame center Eric Lindros for sole possession of eighth place on the all-time franchise goal list.
Early in the third period, Cam Atkinson's team-leading 22nd goal gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead. However, a shorthanded goal by Rem Pitlick (12th) with the team's skating 5-on-5 and the Montreal in the final minute forced overtime.
"First off we got beat up the ice. We got two D men that are in the corner and I think that our mindset is more let’s get on the move, and we’re obviously not protecting that area," Yeo said.
Carter Hart stopped 31 of 35 shots in a losing cause. Sam Montembeault earned the win with 27 saves on 30 shots.
The Flyers went 0-for-2 on the power play. The Canadiens went 1-for-4.