Montreal Canadiens @ Philadelphia Flyers Time, Preview, TV, Live Stream
The Montreal Canadiens, coming off a big win against the Boston Bruins, hope to make it back-to-back victories when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers.
A lot of things have come out of the Montreal Canadiens recent victory. It was head coach Claude Julien‘s 1200th game, Zdeno Chara‘s 1500th game, and a Charlie Coyle goal which would’ve put the Boston Bruins up 5-4 was called back for offside. That’s the beauty and curse of video review. It’s annoying when it happens against, but when it works in your favour, there’s no greater thing.
Other points to come from the 5-4 victory was the performance of Victor Mete. After going 100+ NHL games without scoring a goal, the young defenceman finally scored his first and had another two Tuesday night. Both goals came from taking advantage of an opportunity converting on an open lane and now Mete has three on the season.
It was also a big night for Paul Byron, who whipped the monkey off his back, scoring his first of the season. Byron hasn’t gone this long without a goal to start off the year and getting it now could mean better things point-wise for him in November.
The win over Boston put the Montreal Canadiens back in a playoff spot. They’re nowhere near secure in holding it though making a win against the Philadelphia Flyers crucial. The Flyers winning could bump them down, and if not them, the Pittsburgh Penguins have a game against the New York Islanders (who are currently on a 10-game winning streak), and they might have something to say about who sits in the wild-card spots.
Philadelphia has been trucking along so far this season going 5-4-1 in their last ten games. Travis Konecny and Oscar Lindberg have been leading the way with 15 and 12-points years, respectively, while captain Claude Giroux scored a big goal to put away the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.
However, what’s always been shaky with the Flyers hasn’t changed. Their defensive play hasn’t helped their goaltenders as Carter Hart is struggling to have the same dominating impact he had last year. The 21-year-old seems to be splitting starts with Brian Elliott and have respective .885 and .901 save percentages. Hart has come up with some big saves for Philadelphia here and there, but it’s obvious he’s not getting the help he needs in front.
This is something the Montreal Canadiens can and should take advantage of.