Canadiens Rout Flyers to Even Series

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers win in Game 1 was in large part to Carter Hart's performance, especially after a sloppy second period allowed Montreal to briefly tie the game. A 2-1 final in Game 1 indicated that even though the Flyers remained undefeated in Toronto, the Canadiens had fight in this series.

They really showed it in Game 2. A pair of goals in the first period – before the Flyers could even get a shot on goal – and two more in the second paced the Canadiens to a 5-0 rout of the Flyers, evening the series at one.

Montreal got off to a hot start by taking just 62 seconds to get on the board. Brendan Gallagher fired from an angle and Tomas Tatar buried the rebound to give the Canadiens the 1-0 lead.

For several minutes, the Flyers were clinging to that one-goal deficit, the first time they have trailed in the playoffs. Montreal completely dictated the play, winning all puck battles, continually throwing chances on net and not allowing the Flyers to get in sync.

Finally, Montreal cashed in for their second goal of the game. Similar to the first goal, it was a rebound that got through Hart. A turnaround shot in close by Jonathan Drouin and the rebound was there for Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who actually whiffed on the chance, but the puck trickled through Hart's pads to make it 2-0 at 12:36.

The Flyers finally got their first shot of the game at the 17-minute mark. They finished the period with six total, but Montreal had peppered the Flyers with 16 shots on goal and had earned their third power play of the game in the closing seconds of the period.

That led to the Canadiens third goal of the game early in the second. Tatar struck again, picking a corner on Hart to make it 3-0 at 1:25. 

From there, the Flyers started to pick up the play and started to get chances. Their best chance to turn the game back in their favor came just over four minutes into the second. A pair of penalties put the Flyers on a 5-on-3 for 1:38. To that point, Price had been rarely tested, and the Flyers were able to generate chances, but could not score.

Late in the period, the Canadiens put the stamp on Game 2, as Joel Armia scored off of Shayne Gostisbehere's skate to make it 4-0 Montreal. That ended Hart's afternoon. He made 22 saves on 26 shots.

Through two periods, shots were 27-21 Montreal.

The Flyers could not take advantage of a power play early in the period and even had a shorthanded scoring chance stopped by Shea Weber sprawling in the crease. 

For good measure, the Canadiens added another power-play goal midway through the third period. Kotkaniemi fired one home from the slot for his second of the game to make it 5-0.

To make matters worse, Travis Konecny left the game during the third period with an apparent injury.

Carey Price finished off the shutout, making 30 saves in the win. Elliott finished the game with five saves on six shots.

The teams get back on the ice for Game 3 of the series on Sunday night at 8 p.m.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• MTL Tomas Tatar (1) (Brendan Gallagher, Nick Suzuki) 1:02
• MTL Jesperi Kotkaniemi (3) (Jonathan Drouin, Max Domi) 12:36

2nd Period

• MTL Tatar (2) PP (Victor Mete, Domi) 1:25
• MTL Joel Armia (1) (Jake Evans, Alex Belzile) 17:57

3rd Period

• MTL Kotkaniemi (4) PP (Domi, Mete) 10:35

Game Statistics