Game 71: Montreal Canadiens @ Philadelphia Flyers
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Flyers region: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
On the ice, there weren’t many positives from the Montreal Canadiens’ play on Tuesday night in St. Louis. Just three days earlier, Nick Suzuki had said that his team gave the Colorado Avalanche too much respect at the start of that game, and they did the same thing against the red-hot Blues, spending much of the opening period in their own zone. They missed their chance to dictate the play with their conservative start, and ended up falling 6-1, their first loss by more than one goal since a 5-3 loss to Tampa Bay the game before the league paused for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
However, despite the loss, Montreal hasn’t seen anyone gain on them in the standings because the Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, and Ottawa Senators all lost in regulation that day as well, and then the New York Islanders fell 5-2 on home ice to the Vancouver Canucks last night. The Habs did burn away one game of the regulation-loss allowance they have the rest of the way, but that outcome was a more serious blow for the teams that trail them who now with very little margin for error over the final three weeks of action. Montreal’s competition is gradually dwindling down from a handful of teams to just a couple with a legitimate shot, and the Senators are leaving the door open for a move up a place as well. At this rate, it may not take 92 points to claim the final spot, but we will stick with that projection for now.
Record needed for 92 points
- (7) Ottawa Senators: 5-4-3 (79 points, 12 games remaining)
- (8) Montreal Canadiens: 8-3-1 (75 pts., 12 GR)
- (9) New York Islanders: 8-1-2 (74 pts., 11 GR)
- (10) New York Rangers: 8-0-2 (74 pts., 10 GR)
- (11) Columbus Blue Jackets: 9-2-1 (73 pts.,12 GR)
- (12) Detroit Red Wings: 9-0-2 (72 pts., 11 GR)
It might turn out to be a good thing that the Canadiens didn’t find a way to come back even to make the score less one-sided versus the Blues. They’ve been getting away with some poor play to open their matches in recent weeks, which Martin St-Louis couldn’t do much to rectify when the players showed an ability to earn points despite falling behind. Now that they haven’t, his message about needing better starts will have some impact.
Looking for a bounce-back, it’s hard to find a better opponent than the Philadelphia Flyers. They have lost 12 of their last 14 games, with the only two wins coming via shootout.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Flyers |
|---|---|---|
| 33-28-9 | Record | 28-36-9 |
| 47.8% (26th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 48.8% (22nd) |
| 2.99 (15th) | Goals per game | 2.70 (26th) |
| 3.30 (26th) | Goals against per game | 3.44 (28th) |
| 21.3% (19th) | PP% | 13.7% (30th) |
| 80.5% (13th) | PK% | 77.4% (17th) |
| 1-0-0 | Head-to-Head Record | 0-1-0 |
“I’m not really interested in learning how to coach in this type of season,” John Tortorella said after the team’s most recent loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, their sixth in a row. Like many people, he was expecting the team to take a step forward after just missing the playoffs by a few points last year. As they work their way through the final portion of the schedule, the only thing improving is their draft lottery odds, now just one point up on the Buffalo Sabres for last spot in the Eastern Conference. A head coach who has often been hired to help a franchise get over the hump and into the post-season has run out of ways to help his club.
Not even the injection of Matvei Michkov’s energy and talent could push the team forward this year, but that’s far from the Russian winger’s fault. He has had an exceptional first year in North America with 51 points, which ranks second on the roster behind Travis Konecny (68) and three behind Lane Hutson in the rookie scoring race. But Sean Couturier holds third place on the scoring list with just 37 points, five of which have come in the past four games.
It’s very difficult to win games when you can’t score three on a nightly basis. It’s especially difficult when all of your goalies have goals-against averages above that number. They’ve tried to lean on Samuel Ersson, who has the best numbers of all — an .882 save percentage and 3.10 GAA — but the skaters just can’t score enough to make his best be good enough.
Montreal will probably be sending out Jakub Dobes for tonight’s game, the first in a back-to-back that sees Montreal visit a stronger Carolina Hurricanes team on Friday. Tortorella wishes he had a goalie as good as Dobes on his team, one with a .908 mark through 12 starts.. The goalie matchup will be in Montreal’s favour and there’s really no contest when it comes to the overall quality of the forwards and defencemen. This is a game Montreal will be heavily favoured to win, and they should be motivated to come out strong and leave no doubt about the result with a great start.
