The Montreal Canadiens upset the Pittsburgh Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup qualifiers and now face the number one seed starting Wednesday night in the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers started the round robin as the number four seed, but have been the hottest team in the National Hockey League by far.
The Habs know the Flyers all too well, having played them most recently in the 2010 Eastern Conference Final. The Flyers beat Montreal in six games, thanks in large part to Claude Giroux and the stellar goaltending of Micheal Leighton.
If Canadiens fans don’t remember, that was the year Jaroslav Halak carried the Habs through the playoffs against the Penguins and Capitals. Carey Price was on the bench for that one, but will be in full action this time around.
The Philadelphia Flyers don’t have the superstars the Pittsburgh Penguins had, but are a hard working team that works together as a unit for success. It’s pretty remarkable that before the pause, the Flyers were streaking, winning nine out of their last 10 games, and four months later, they continue that impressive trend.
A lot of credit goes to young netminder Carter Hart who continues to carry his team and will be playing against his idol in Carey Price. Funny enough, this will also be a reunion of the two french speaking coaches.
Alain Vigneault and Claude Julien know each other all too well, hailing from Quebec and having coached against each other since both started in major junior. Another twist is that ex Habs bench boss Michel Therrien is Vigneault’s assistant, so the Flyers have another advantage there.
The season series finished 2-1 for Philadelphia, but that seems to be ancient history, and as we know, anything can happen in the playoffs.
How Are The Flyers So Good?
The Philadelphia Flyers finished the round-robin with a perfect record of 3-0 and were impressive, beating the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals. What’s even more interesting is that when you look at the players who scored, it’s not just one or two players. It’s eight or nine players and it shows the depth and variety that Philadelphia has.
They are a team that likes to dump and chase while cycling the puck and it’s a system that seems to be working for them. They, like Montreal, are a heavy puck possession team.
What Montreal Needs To Do
The Montreal Canadiens will have a lot of work ahead of them, and again, it won’t be easy. They will need all four lines to contribute which is something that didn’t happen in the play-in round. Players like Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin will be heavily relied on to provide more offence.
Defensive Matchup
The Canadiens, once again, will rely on their top three defensemen who came up big in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. Shea Weber, Jeff Petry and Ben Chiarot will have their hands full against the likes of Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier who are basically the superstars of the Flyers. On the other end of the ice, Montreal forwards will have to deal with Shayne Gostisbehere and Matt Niskanen who are pretty solid for the Flyers on the blue line.
Goaltending Matchup
The matchup is pretty simple. It’s Carey Price against Carter Hart, and even if it’s Hart’s first ever playoff experience, he has proven he is up to the task and certainly proved it throughout the round robin. Carey Price finished the series against Pittsburgh with a .950 save percentage and seems to be playing at a level that won him the Vezina Trophy back in 2014.
Who Takes It ?
The Philadelphia Flyers are a deep, heavy team that, like Montreal, like to have the puck in their possession. This series will likely come down to who performs better when it comes to the offensive zone. My take is if the Montreal offence wakes up and it’s not just two or three players contributing, Montreal has a great chance to upset the current number one seed and advance to round two.
We don’t need to worry about the defence or goaltending. Special teams could be a factor in this one, depending how disciplined both teams are. Whoever possesses the puck more and creates more scoring chances will have the advantage.
Prediction: Montreal in six based on the fact that Carey Price is playing lights out and I feel Montreal, as a team, will get better and better as the series goes on.