4) The Shutout
It’s not crazy to imagine a reality where Carey Price gets a shutout in a playoff game. He’s been one of the Montreal Canadiens’ key pieces in these games, and he’ll give the team a chance to win every time he skates to the net. That said, the Habs rightfully earned that dominating win.
Montreal controlled the pace of the play having the majority of the shots and scoring chances. Their first period was unbelievable, with an 82.35% CF% at 5v5 with 14 shots, 18 scoring chances and 8 high-danger chances to Philadelphia’s 3, 5 and 2.
Score effects rightfully kicked in once the third period began, and the Flyers took over, but it wasn’t overwhelming. It was a relatively quieter final frame with Philadelphia getting 7 shots and 6 scoring chances to Montreal’s 3 and 4. Price did have to come up with big to keep the Flyers off the scoreboard, and his biggest stops were his best.
Something the Canadiens will be proud of was the magnitude of scoring chances they had in the slot. Conversely, they made the Flyer’s take shots all over the offensive zone without establishing an actual area. Jakub Voracek had the closest chance on Price (distance-wise) with his backhanded rebound shot in the first period.
Continuing that motive will help Price out and not force him to make that many highlight-reel saves every game. He can’t save Suzuki’s life every single game, you know.
Game 3 is going to be a doozy as Alain Vigneault is using the power play thing as a rallying cry. Again, a lot that went wrong with the Philadelphia Flyers was self-inflicted, so it’ll be important for the Montreal Canadiens to keep their foot on the gas and keep the pace.
Acknowledgements: Special team stats from NHL.com, Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick and Money Puck