The Montreal Canadiens blew the Philadelphia Flyers out of the water in Game 2, and it came from elements of the team that needed to be changed and respond.
When you look at a 5-0 win in a playoff game, it’s easy to write off the good that the winning team did in the Montreal Canadiens and focus on the bad the losing team committed in the Philadelphia Flyers. However, there was enough from the 60 minutes of regulation to acknowledge both as the highs were high and the lows were low.
1) The Flyers lose their system
It’ll be easy to take care of this right off the bat. The Flyers are usually a much better team in front of their own net and allowed by Tomas Tatar and Jesperi Kotkaniemi to take their place for the first and second goals of the game.
Penalties were also an issue for them as they took six, allowing goals on two of them. The Flyers are a gritty team, but they don’t get called much. In fact, they’re pretty much on par with how disciplined the Montreal Canadiens are.
This season, the Flyers took 239 penalties to the Habs’ 243 and went into the pause with a penalties taken/60 of 3.41 to Montreal’s 3.38. For context, the New York Rangers, who were the most penalized team in the year, had a penalties taken/60 of 4.27. Teams generally hover around the mid-to-low 3s.
Whenever Philadelphia took a penalty, they were usually able to do away with it, given their 81.8% penalty kill good for 11th in the league. But it didn’t look like at times.
Tatar uses Justin Braun as a screen to beat Carter Hart high-glove while Kotkaniemi is able to break into the zone with speed, get the pass from Max Domi and roof one over Brian Elliott.
They broke down in several areas, and the Montreal Canadiens were able to capitalize on them when they appeared. Of course, the Habs got some good luck as well, and Joel Armia’s banked goal off Braun is another example (poor 61).