Hart, Patrick Lead Flyers Past Canadiens for 3rd Straight Win

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers finished the first period with one shot. The game was scoreless, however, thanks to Carter Hart. Late in the second period, the game remained scoreless before two quick goals for the Flyers.

Nolan Patrick added a pair in the third and the Flyers pulled away with a 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens in the final game before the bye week and the All-Star break.

The first period was heavily dominated by Montreal, who had a 12-1 shot advantage after 20 minutes. Hart was up to the task on all 12 shots, including a couple of quality scoring chances.

The Flyers didn't go through the opening period without quality chances of their own. Wayne Simmonds was set up in front of the net and appeared to have Antti Niemi down and out, but hit the post with his shot. Later in the period, the Flyers top line completed a perfect passing play off a rush, but Travis Konecny shoveled the tip wide.

For most of the second period, the goalies starred on both sides. Hart continued to be solid, making 10 saves in the period. Niemi was also making saves at the other end. Both teams had power play chances in the period, but failed to score.

Late in the period, the Flyers finally broke the ice. A shot by Shayne Gostisbehere left a rebound and Konecny was there to put it home for his 12th goal of the season and 100th NHL point with 2:59 remaining in the period.

Just 1:33 later, with a delayed penalty call on the Canadiens, a point shot by Robert Hagg was deflected in by James van Riemsdyk to make it 2-0.

Despite holding the lead, the Flyers were being outshot, 22-14, through two periods.

Just over seven minutes into the third, the Flyers got a break with a two-on-one and executed perfectly. Simmonds carried the puck and slowed down to stall and draw the defenseman. He then passed across to a wide open Patrick for the easy goal, his eighth of the season, to make it 3-0 at 7:05.

Just 30 seconds later, the shutout bid came to an end for Hart, as Max Domi beat him with a shot from the slot to get the Canadiens on the board with 12:24 remaining.

Less than two minutes later, the Flyers had the answer, with Patrick completing a beautiful play by going bar-down with the shot from the slot to make it 4-1 with 10:28 remaining.

The Canadiens made a push late, with Brett Kulak scoring on a rebound with four minutes remaining to cut the lead to two.

With the goalie pulled with under three minutes to play, the Canadiens pressed and nearly got another goal to cut the lead to one. Instead, the Flyers managed to gain control and Michael Raffl scored into the empty net.

Hart was outstanding making 33 saves in the first road win of his career. Niemi stopped 20 of 24 shots.

Four Flyers finished with multi-point games. Patrick had a pair of goals. Konecny had a goal and an assist. Sean Couturier and Gostisbehere each had two assists.

The Flyers take a three-game winning streak and wins in four of the last five games into the bye week and the All-Star break. They get back on the ice on Monday, Jan. 28, at 7 p.m. to face the Winnipeg Jets.

Box Score

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• No Scoring

2nd Period

• PHI Travis Konecny (12) (Shayne Gostisbehere, Sean Couturier) 17:01
• PHI James van Riemsdyk (12) (Robert Hagg, Konecny) 18:34

3rd Period

• PHI Nolan Patrick (8) (Wayne Simmonds, Scott Laughton) 7:06
• MTL Max Domi (16) (Tomas Tatar, Artturi Lehkonen) 7:36
• PHI Patrick (9) (Jake Voracek, Gostisbehere) 9:32
• MTL Brett Kulak (3) (Brendan Gallagher, Jonathan Drouin) 16:00
• PHI Michael Raffl (3) EN (Couturier) 19:08

Game Statistics