Observations from the Flyers’ 4-1 clunker against Montreal
The Flyers had a rare loss at home in Alex Lyon’s first start in more than a year. The goalie was not the problem, however.
Thoughts and observations following Thursday’s disappointing loss to the Canadiens.
Could see it coming
The Flyers followed up a stirring 3-1-0 run against four of the league’s best teams with a loss to Montreal, which came into the night 26th among the NHL’s 31 teams in points. The Habs had taken the Flyers to overtime in the two prior meetings this year, so a challenge should have been expected.
Our three stars
1. Carey Price, Montreal
2. Ilya Kovalchuk, Montreal
3. Tomas Tatar, Montreal
A rare South Philly clunker
The Flyers came into the night 8-0 at home against teams that were out of the playoffs entering Thursday night.
Cool It
The Flyers are taking too many penalties. It’s one thing to deck a guy in front of your net when the other team is pressing, but Kevin Hayes got flagged for a very soft hooking call when he got his stick into the mid-section of Joel Armia and Connor Bunnaman tackled Armia after he drilled Ivan Provorov with the Flyers down two goals.
The Habs scored on the Hayes penalty, which admittedly was a bad call. They got away with a trip while killing the Bunnaman penalty, which could have very easily created an opposing 5-on-3 for the second consecutive game.
Paying the Price
Like the Flyers, the Canadiens were also on the second leg of a back-to-back. They lost to Chicago on Wednesday with backup goalie Charlie Lindgren in order to save Carey Price for the Flyers. Price isn’t having a Vezina season, but he was the coolest customer in the barn. He stopped 40 of the Flyers’ 41 shots,
The night’s best Flyer
Joel Farabee scored his first goal in 16 games and his line (Connor Bunnaman and Tyler Pitlick) might have been the Flyers’ best. Farabee was sent to the AHL for a day when Alex Lyon had to be summoned to replace Carter Hart. Good for the kid to have a strong effort.
Defense decision
The Flyers will probably send down Mark Friedman when Justin Braun (groin) comes back on Saturday, but Phil Myers has had his moments of anxiety since Shayne Gostisbehere went out with a knee injury. Head coach Alain Vigneault likes Myers’ potential, but the Flyers have scratched the 22-year-old several times this year.