A Winning Habit
Fansided

The Montreal Canadiens Will Face the Philadelphia Flyers in the First Round of the Playoffs

By Sebastian High

PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 19: Claude Giroux #28 of the Philadelphia Flyers looks to pass the puck with teammates Sean Couturier #14 and Jakub Voracek #93 against Brendan Gallagher #11 of the Montreal Canadiens on March 19, 2019 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 19: Claude Giroux #28 of the Philadelphia Flyers looks to pass the puck with teammates Sean Couturier #14 and Jakub Voracek #93 against Brendan Gallagher #11 of the Montreal Canadiens on March 19, 2019 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers
PHILADELPHIA, PA – JANUARY 16: Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

It is difficult to argue that the Philadelphia Flyers do not have more offensive star-power, as they boasted four 20-goal scorers to Montreal’s two this past season, and they added a 19-goal scorer for good measure. Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny potted 21, 22, 23 and 24 goals, respectively, while James Van Riemsdyk was just one goal short of completing the oh-so-satisfying sequence of 20 to 24.

For comparison’s sake, Tomas Tatar and Brendan Gallagher were joint top on the Habs with 22 tallies apiece while Joel Armia placed third on the podium with 16. In terms of playmaking, Tomas Tatar once again led the way with 39 assists, while the Flyers were led by the ever-deceptive Jakub Voracek with 44.

At least in the regular season, Philadelphia had a clear advantage in terms of goalscoring from their big names and scored 20 more regular-season goals as a team than the Habs and that in two fewer games.

However, the playoffs are a new season, and that has never been more true than in 2020, and the Habs have so far had some depth players step up in a big way and should not be taken lightly. Paul Byron, Artturi Lehkonen and Jesperi Kotkaniemi come to mind as potential difference-makers, with the latter stepping into a top-6 centre role.

Defensively, Philadelphia once again takes the upper hand with a six-man defensive corps consisting of Matt Niskanen and Ivan Provorov playing first pairing minutes followed by Travis Sanheim and Philippe Myers and finally Shayne Ghostisbehere and Justin Braun. While Provorov may very well be the best defenseman playing in this series, it is the third pairing that holds the biggest advantage on the Habs.

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