Giroux Gets 900th Point but Flyers Fall to Canadians in OT

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

As of Monday, there will be one week left until the trade deadline, and all eyes will be on Claude Giroux. During this week, Giroux will hit a milestone. His 1,000th game is set for Thursday night, assuming all goes as planned.

In career game No. 999 on Sunday night, Giroux reached another milestone. A goal in the second period was his 900th career point. At the time, it put the Flyers in the lead of a game they went on to allowing the tying goal in the final minute of regulation and fall to the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3, in overtime at Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers came out with a strong push early and eventually turned it into a goal. At the seven-minute mark of the first period, Kevin Hayes was on the receiving end of a great set-up pass by Travis Sanheim for his fourth goal of the season to make it 1-0.

Montreal eventually caught and passed the Flyers in shots in the opening period, 11-9, but the Flyers held the advantage through 20 minutes. 

An early power play in the second period allowed Montreal to get the game tied. A quick release by Nick Suzuki was partially stopped by Carter Hart, but got through the netminder and in to make it a 1-1 game at 2:18.

Just under five minutes later, the Flyers got the lead back. At 7:11, Giroux took control of the puck in front and tucked it home for his 281st career goal and 900th career point. The goal moved him into sole possession of eight place all-time in Flyers history.

The lead lasted just 67 seconds. Suzuki scored his second of the game and 16th of the season to make it a 2-2 game.

Through two periods, shots were 21-15 Montreal. 

Early in the third, the Flyers took the lead again. Joel Farabee got the puck in the slot and made a nice play to get it to the front of the net for a tip by Cam Atkinson, who scored his 22nd goal of the season to make it 3-2 Flyers at 2:41.

The Flyers appeared to be in position to win the game when Chris Wideman took an interference penalty with one minute to play in the third. While shorthanded, the Canadiens managed to get the goalie pulled again and scored the tying goal with 42.1 seconds remaining, as Rem Pitlick took the feed from in front and scored. 

That sent the game to overtime, where the Canadiens grabbed the win as Cole Caufield came off the bench and fired a shot by Hart for his ninth goal of the season at 2:10 of the overtime.

Samuel Montembeault made 27 saves on 30 shots in the win. Hart finished with 31 saves on 35 shots in the loss.

Suzuki, Pitlick, Caufield and Wideman each had two-point games.  

The Flyers get back on the ice on Thursday night to take on the Nashville Predators at 7 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Kevin Hayes (4) (Travis Sanheim, James van Riemsdyk) 7:00

2nd Period

• MTL Nick Suzuki (15) PP (Cole Caufield, Chris Wideman) 2:18
• PHI Claude Giroux (18) (Morgan Frost, Travis Konecny) 7:11
• MTL Suzuki (16) (Wideman, Mike Hoffman) 8:18

3rd Period

• PHI Cam Atkinson (22) (Joel Farabee, Derick Brassard) 2:41
• MTL Rem Pitlick (12) SH (Ben Chiarot) 19:17

Overtime

• MTL Caufield (9) (Pitlick) 2:10

Game Statistics