The Montreal Canadiens where in Philadelphia tonight to take on the Flyers in the second part of their weekend back-to-back and they got another two points.
The Montreal Canadiens and the Philadelphia Flyers treated fans to a fast-paced, action-packed first frame in the city of brotherly love tonight. There was almost some rough stuff after Sean Couturier almost landed a questionable hit on Kirby Dach, but Nick Seeler neutralized Arber Xhekaj before anything could happen, and somehow, the Canadiens' tough guy was the only one sanctioned on the play; go figure.
Still, we also saw some good hockey plays. The Canadiens knocked on the Flyers' goal door often and did manage to get the first goal of the game when Nick Suzuki scored from close. The Flyers were able to tie the score on a shot from far out that looked non-threatening, but it was deflected by Jake Evans, and the score was tied 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Just like he had in the first period, Lane Hutson put the Flyers under siege early in the second with a dominating shift in which no one could get the puck away from him. The Canadiens really took charge in the middle frame, and Brendan Gallagher shone brightly. After getting crosschecked in the back by the boards (no penalty was called), the alternate captain jumped back up and headed to the net. He got there right on time to stick out his leg as a Mailloux booming shot was going to the net, and he scored 2-1 Habs.
Then, the Habs made the most of a power play when Cole Caufield scored the eighth of the season with helpers from Suzuki and Matheson. Four minutes later, Evans was the target of one of the slowest passes ever by the net in Caufield's office. The result? He "Caufielded" it, giving the Canadiens a 4-1 lead. Nothing can make John Tortorella any happier with his team's performance.
Back to Gallagher, he also drew a penalty in a tussle with rookie Matvei Michkov. There was a lot of pushing around, and as Gallagher was giving him his best, "You're not getting to me, rookie," he slashed him out of frustration and got himself an all-inclusive trip to the penalty box. Enjoy the water break, kid.
The Canadiens made things scarier than they needed to be, surrendering a couple of late goals, and the Flyers were able to bring the score to 4-3 and had Montreal under siege for a good last minute and a half, but they hung on, a tight win in the end.
It wasn't a perfect game by any means, but at least the Habs got two points. This means that after nine games, they have four wins and nine points, the exact same record as the Buffalo Sabres, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Detroit Red Wings. It brings them up to 18th place in the standings, much better than the 26th spot they were sat in before.
Brendan Gallagher, who notched a goal and an assist tonight, was named the first star, not only because of the two points but also because his goal was his 221st, which allowed him to tie Guy Carbonneau as the 21st top goal scorer with the storied franchise. Furthermore, even though the point production hasn't been there for Gally since the start of the year (aside from the two-goal game early one), he has been excellent and as devoted as ever. The Gallagher-Evans duo is the new Gallagher-Lehkonen duo, the pair whose work ethic you need to follow.
Captain Suzuki also scored two points on the night, which allowed him to keep his point streak going. He now has 11 points in his last seven games. He was blanked in the first couple of games of the year, but the captain's been dialed in since then.
Defensively, it wasn't as good an effort as it was on Saturday night, but Cayden Primeau did well to limit the damage, at least until three minutes were left in the game. Logan Mailloux had a couple of defensive lapses, getting himself completely out of the play at one stage to finish a check, and there was one play in which he and Xhekaj both lost their sticks as they were backing off to defend. It could have been a disaster, but the worst was avoided.
Martin St-Louis was understandably happy during his post-game media availability. He felt like his team reaped the benefits of the hard work it put in this week in practice. The coach mentioned that his team is much closer to the version of itself it wants to be. Gallagher mentioned that good things happen to you when you do the right things.
It was the first time this season that the Canadiens managed to win two games in a row, and it will be interesting to see if they can keep the sequence going on Tuesday when they host the struggling Seattle Kraken, who have lost their last three games in Montreal.
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