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Flyers Gameday: 3/19/19 vs. MTL

March 19, 2019, 8:55 AM ET [259 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Game 73 Preview: FLYERS vs. CANADIENS

Interim head coach Scott Gordon's Philadelphia Flyers (35-29-8) are home on Tuesday to take on Claude Julien's Montreal Canadiens (37-28-7). Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET.

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

This is the third and final meeting of the season between the teams, and the lone game in Philadelphia. The Flyers are 1-1-0 to date.

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 by Travis Konecny, James van Riemsdyk, Nolan Patrick and Michael Raffl (empty net). 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.

Hart's next appearance in Montreal, on Feb. 21, was the polar opposite of the first. He sprained his ankle during pregame warmups but tried to play through it. Instead, for a second straight game, he was pulled midway through the first period after allowing three goals on nine shots. Two of the three goals were stoppable. Brian Elliott (29 saves on 31 shots) went the rest of the way in relief. The Flyers lost, 5-1.

There were very few bright spots for the Flyers in the rematch in Montreal. One was Philippe Myers, who had a strong all-around performance in 20:28 of ice time in his second game in the NHL.

Brendan Gallagher notched his first career NHL hat trick. Rookie center Jesperi Kotkaniemi notched his 11th goal of the season. Tomas Tatar made it 5-0 early in the third period.

Veteran Canadiens star goaltender Carey Price wasn't at his sharpest very early in the game but soon was locked in. He played a strong game in keeping the Flyers at bay whenever they had a chance to start climbing back into the game. Price stopped 29 of 30 shots, with 11 saves coming in the third period.

Flyers Outlook

The Flyers are 20-7-2 over their last 29 games. Unfortunately, the team needed five or six points from a crucial 3-in-4 gauntlet from Thursday to Sunday and ended up with only two points. The gap between the Flyers and the playoff cutoff line is a cavernous seven points (six standings points and a ROW disadvantage) with 10 games left to play.

That said, the Flyers stayed alive in the playoff race with a remarkable 2-1 comeback win in overtime against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday. Sean Couturier (29th goal of the season) won the game with 3.4 seconds left in overtime after James van Riemsdyk (25th goal; goals in 10 of his last 11 games) tied the game at 1-1 with just 18.8 seconds remaining in regulation.

Playing for just the second time since his injury in the Feb. 21 game in Montreal worsened during practice at Lincoln Financial Field the evening before the Stadium Series game against Pittsburgh, Hart performed brilliantly in Sunday's must-win game. The rookie netminder turned back 41 of 42 shots to earn the biggest win of his young career to date.

Flyers captain Claude Giroux, who had a would-be power play goal disallowed then reversed after a Flyers challenge of a goalie interference ruling and then re-reversed back to no-goal on a Pittsburgh challenge for an offside on entry, was severely under the weather on Sunday. He did not take part in the morning skate but played in the game due to its vital importance to the team.

The Flyers took an off-day on Monday, giving Giroux and the rest of the team (including Ryan Hartman, who missed Friday's game in Toronto due to a similar illness) a chance to rest before facing another must-win game against Montreal.

Canadiens Outlook

The Habs were in playoff position for most of the season but have thus far gone cold down the stretch. The club has dropped six of its last 10 games; all in regulation. Goals have been hard to come by of late. The Canadiens have scored a combined six goals in their last six games.

Back-to-back regulation losses now have the team four points (three standings points and a 39-35 ROW tiebreaker disadvantage) behind Columbus for the final playoff spot in the East with 10 games remaining. They are three standings points and a 35-33 ROW advantage ahead of the Flyers.

The Canadiens are coming off a home 2-0 shutout loss at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. The team is 17-16-3 on the road, while the Flyers are 18-14-4 on home ice.

One area that has not been a recent problem for the Habs has been goaltending. Carey Price has been excellent in recent games but just not getting any goal support. The veteran superstar has done his part with a 1.69 GAA and .940 save percentage over his last three starts.

Projected Lines (Subject to change, will be updated)

FLYERS

25 James van Riemsdyk - 19 Nolan Patrick - 28 Claude Giroux
23 Oskar Lindblom - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jake Voracek
12 Michael Raffl - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny
44 Phil Varone - 10 Corban Knight - 38 Ryan Hartman

9 Ivan Provorov - 6 Travis Sanheim
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 61 Phil Myers
8 Robert Hägg - 3 Radko Gudas​

79 Carter Hart
[37 Brian Elliott]

Scratches: 47 Andrew MacDonald (healthy), 33 Cam Talbot (healthy), 5 Sam Morin (healthy), 30 Michal Neuvirth (IR, lower body).

CANADIENS

90 Tomas Tatar - 24 Phillip Danault - 11 Brendan Gallagher
62 Artturi Lehkonen - 13 Max Domi - 65 Andrew Shaw
92 Jonathan Drouin - 15 Jesperi Kotkaniemi - 40 Joel Armia
41 Paul Byron - 21 Nate Thompson - 43 Jordan Weal ​

53 Victor Mete - 6 Shea Weber
17 Brett Kulak - 26 Jeff Petry
8 Jordie Benn - 32 Christian Folin ​

31 Carey Price
[37 Antti Niemi​]

Scratches: 20 Nicolas Deslauriers (healthy), 22 Dale Weise (healthy), 28 Mike Reilly (healthy),
39 Charlie Lindgren (healthy), 54 Charles Hudon (healthy), 63 Matthew Peca (healthy).
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