Canadiens Ground The Flyers 2-1 In Overtime

3rd star of the week, David Desharnais scores the overtime winner

MONTREAL, QC – The Montreal Canadiens fell behind early, but stayed the course and bested the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 in overtime at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night.

Montreal fell behind early in the 1st period, when Flyers’ forward Matt Read got a quick snap shot away from his off-wing, using Habs’ defenseman Andrei Markov as a screen and beating Vezina hopeful Carey Price over his glove just 51 seconds in.

Just a few minutes later, as a delayed penalty was coming to Canadiens’ centre Lars Eller, Flyers’ superstar Claude Giroux was sprung on a breakaway, only to be denied by a beautiful left pad save by Price.

In another slow start by the Habs, Philly outshot them 9-7 in the 1st period.

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The Canadiens put the pedal to the metal in the second period, firing a whopping 17 pucks at Flyers’ goalie Ray Emery, while Philadelphia had 10 shots of their own.

While Montreal pushed the pace on offense, they gave up multiple odd-man rushes, again helped by some great goaltending by Price. The Habs’ netminder got some help as well, when the Flyers’ Sean Couturier rang a shot off the goalpost.

But as has been the modus operandi throughout this season, the 3rd periods was the Canadiens best.

Canadiens’ veteran Tomas Plekanec finally got his team on the board with 7:22 left in regulation. Brendan Gallagher took the puck hard to the net, and as Emery tried to gather the rebound in during a goal mouth scramble, Alex Galchenyuk fed Plekanec the puck, and the Czech fired a backhand under a prone Philadelphia goaltender.

The teams were tied at 1 after regulation time, so overtime was needed. With just over a minute and a half left in the extra frame, Habs’ centre David Desharnais was fed the puck by Andrei Markov for a 2-on-1 opportunity. Desharnais’ pass attempt a streaking Max Pacioretty bounced off the skate of Flyer’s d-man Michael Del Zotto right on goal. Emery stopped the initial chance, but Desharnais popped the rebound in the top corner of the blocker side on Emery to give Montreal the victory

Firing Rubber

While the Canadiens were credited with 41 shots on goal, they actually fired 90 pucks at the Philadelphia goal. 25 shots were blocked by the Flyers, who spent the majority of the night fronting pucks in an attempt to slow down the Habs’ offense.

Whoa Markov Whoa

Canadiens’ veteran rearguard Andrei Markov got caught on ill-advised pinches multiple times in the second period, leading to a bunch of odd-man rushes for the Flyers. Against a team with the offensive firepower of the Flyers, Markov would have been better served staying less aggressive and a little more defensively aware.

The Punisher Returns

If anyone questioned the importance of Alexei Emelin’s physical game to the Canadiens, last night was certainly and indication of its validity. Emelin rocked Philadelphia’s Chris Vandevelde with a bone crushing hit as he tried to enter the Canadiens’ zone, and it seemed to inspire his team.

That’s More Like It

It may not be the amount of time on ice that he might be hoping for, but Habs’ rookie blueliner Nathan Beaulieu saw his minutes bumped back up by head coach Michel Therrien. The pedestrian 8:17 Beaulieu played on Sunday night against the Bruins may have just been a consequence of reduced minutes for his 40-year-old partner Sergei Gonchar, but it will remain to be seen if 13:31 of ice time from last night’s contest is more the norm.