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Flyers Gameday: 2/21/19 @ MTL

February 20, 2019, 11:15 PM ET [381 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Game 61 Preview: FLYERS @ CANADIENS

Interim head coach Scott Gordon's Philadelphia Flyers (28-25-7) are in Quebec on Thursday to take on Claude Julien's Montreal Canadiens (32-21-7). Game time at the Bell Centre is 7:30 p.m. ET.

The game will be televised locally on NBCSP. The radio broadcast can be found on 97.5 FM The Fanatic with an online simulcast at FlyersRadio247.com.

This is the second of three meetings between the teams this season and the second and final game in Montreal. The season series concludes in Philadelphia on March 19.

On Jan. 19 in Montreal, the Flyers earned a 5-2 victory. Flyers rookie goaltender Carter Hart. singlehandedly kept the game scoreless through a first period in which Philly was outshot by a 12-1 margin; a pace that continued into the early minutes of the second period before the Flyers finally started to generate some sustained attack of their own. Hart took a shutout bid into the third period before finishing with 33 saves on 35 shots.

The Flyers goals were scored off the sticks of Travis Konecny (12th), the then red-hot James van Riemsdyk (12th), Nolan Patrick (8th and 9th) and Michael Raffl (empty net, 3rd). Coming off a hat trick against Boston the previous game, Sean Couturier notched two assists in Montreal. Shayne Gostisbehere had a two-assist game as well.

Konecy notched a goal and an assist along with three shots on goal and seven shot attempts. Konecny's goal broke a scoreless deadlock in the second period. Nolan scored two goals in the third period. The latter of the two was highlight-reel material.

Flyers Outlook

The Flyers are 7-2-1 over their last 10 games and 13-3-1 over their last 17. Nevertheless, coming off a 5-2 home loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday along with both Montreal and Pittsburgh winning their respective games that night, the Flyers need to get right back on the winning track before Saturday's Stadium Series clash with the Penguins.

On Tuesday, the Flyers trailed Tampa Bay, 3-0, in the first 10:23 of the game, and spent the rest of the game battling uphill. Philly played well overall in the final 40 minutes of the game, but it wasn't enough against the best team in the NHL, even without Tampa having the services of injured No. 1 defenseman Victor Hedman, dynamic center Brayden Point (a healthy scratch for an internal disciplinary reason) and with star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy getting the night off.

The Flyers got goals from Oskar Lindblom (11th) and Travis Konecny (18th). Sean Couturier set up both goals, and would have been the goal-scorer on the wiped-out 3rd goal. Michael Raffl (8th) and Travis Sanheim (18th) each had a secondary assist.

Carter Hart was not at the top of his game in his brief outing but hardly the main culprit in why he was pulled after giving up three goals on nine shots in 10:23 of action. Each of the first two goals deflected on the way to the net. The third was a 2-on-1 (albeit a stoppable shot). All three goals involved lost battles and/or giveaways in front of him.

Veteran goaltender Brian Elliott, activated on Tuesday after spending roughly three months on injured reserve and getting in two conditioning assignment starts with the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms, relieved Hart. Elliott stopped 22 of 23 shots, and was solid except for a leaky power play goal by Gourde that hit Elliott (who was playing without a stick) in the palm and then dribbled through into the short side of the net. Tampa added an empty net goal shortly after an apparent Couturier goal that would have made the score 4-3 was disallowed on a controversial goaltender interference ruling.

On Wednesday, the Flyers received additional bad news. The NHL suspended defenseman Radko Gudas -- arguably the team's most consistent blueliner this season -- for the next two games, stemming from a high-sticking incident on Tampa star Nikita Kucherov in the third period of Tuesday's game. He will miss the Montreal and Pittsburgh games. Philippe Myers will appear in his second NHL game come Thursday's game in Montreal.

Separately, the league fined Flyers defenseman Robert Hägg for an interference/ drive by chicken wing in the third period of Tuesday's game. He was not suspended.

The Flyers held an optional practice on Wednesday. They were joined for the first time by recent acquisition Cam Talbot before heading to Montreal. Hart will get the start in Montreal, and one of Talbot or Elliott will back up him with the other being a healthy scratch. The club placed veteran goaltender Mike McKenna on waivers on Wednesday.

Flyers team captain Claude Giroux flew with the team to Montreal on Wednesday and then took another plane to Gatineau, Quebec, where the QMJHL's Olympiques honored him by retiring his No. 28 jersey and hanging a banner in the rafters. All Olympiques players sported jerseys with Giroux's number and name during pregame warmups. Giroux returned to Montreal after the game in Gatineau to rejoin his Flyers teammates.

Canadiens Outlook

The Habs are 5-3-2 over their last 10 games but are coming off a 3-2 home win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday. The victory halted a four-game winless skid.

With the Canadiens in fourth place in the Atlantic Division, five points behind Toronto and seven points behind Boston with significant ROW tiebreaker disadvantages against both teams, Montreal is currently competing for a wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. The Habs have a tenuous hold on the upper wildcard spot.

On Tuesday, the Canadiens took a 2-0 lead to the first intermission against Columbus, courtesy of tallies by Max Domi (20th) and Paul Byron (11th). Domi also later dropped the gloves with Columbus captain Nick Foligno in response to a hit on teammate Mike Reilly. The Blue Jackets came back to tie the game at 2-2 by midway through the third period. With 6:52 left in the third period, Tomas Tatar (19th) put the Canadiens back ahead to stay. Carey Price (31 saves on 33 shots) took care of the rest.

Price did not play against the Flyers the last time the teams met. He did not practice on Wednesday but is the likely starter on Thursday. Canadiens emergency goaltender Karel St. Laurent was on the ice for practice. Shea Weber also took a maintenance day on Wednesday.

Phillip Danault did not play on Tuesday or practice on Wednesday. He was with his wife for the birth of a son named Phillip-Édouard. Danault's gameday availability status for Thursday is unconfirmed.

The Canadiens are 0-for-11 on the power play over their last four games and 2-for-21 in the last seven. For the season, the Canadiens have dropped to 12.7 percent overall.

Projected Lines (Subject to change)

FLYERS

25 James van Riemsdyk - 28 Claude Giroux - 11 Travis Konecny
23 Oskar Lindblom - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
21 Scott Laughton - 19 Nolan Patrick -17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl - 44 Phil Varone - 27 Justin Bailey

9 Ivan Provorov - 6 Travis Sanheim
8 Robert Hägg - 47 Andrew MacDonald
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 61 Philippe Myers

72 Carter Hart
[37 Brian Elliott]

Scratches: 3 Radko Gudas (NHL suspension, game 1 of 2), 33 Cam Talbot (healthy), 30 Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body), 5 Sam Morin (AHL rehab for ACL surgery).


CANADIENS

92 Jonathan Drouin - 13 Max Domi - 65 Andrew Shaw
90 Tomas Tatar - 21 Nate Thompson - 11 Brendan Gallagher
41 Paul Byron - 15 Jesperi Kotkaniemi - 40 Joel Armia
62 Artturi Lehkonen - 63 Matthew Peca - 54 Charles Hudon ​

53 Victor Mete - 6 Shea Weber
28 Mike Reilly - 26 Jeff Petry
17 Brett Kulak - 8 Jordie Benn​

31 Carey Price
[37 Antti Niemi​]

Scratches: 32 Christian Folin (healthy), 20 Nicolas Deslauriers (healthy), 24 Phillip Danault (questionable, family reasons).
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