There’s no other way to put it: the Philadelphia Flyers dominated the Montreal Canadiens tonight, and it was a whole lot of fun. They beat the Habs 3-1, their 10th straight win at home, all in regulation. It’s the first time they’ve done that since the 1984-85 season.
It was a bit closer in the third period than we would’ve liked, especially when Montreal picked up a power play with seven minutes left in a 3-1 game. But the Flyers entered that PK having killed 18 straight, and they easily made it 19 as the Habs barely mounted an attack.
That was pretty much the story of the entire night: Steve Mason faced 20 shots in total — just five in the third period, when you’d expect them to at least throw a little bit of rubber at the net considering they were down by several goals. The pressure never really came though, largely because the Flyers just didn’t give up the puck.
The Flyers certainly played well, and definitely brought the success back home with them tonight after a 5-1 road trip. As Kurt pointed out on Twitter, the last time they lost at home, Claude Giroux still hadn’t scored his first goal of the year. After a few tight wins, including last night in New Jersey, it was nice to see an all-around dominant win this evening.
Of course, give some credit to the Habs tonight, too, who basically didn’t show up. Maybe it’s true that they’re a different team without Carey Price in goal, but it was pretty clear that they were never in this one. Coach Michel Therrien benched his leading scorer, P.K. Subban, for the first half of the third period — a time when his team was down two goals and they could’ve used the offense. Then, he failed to pull Peter Budaj despite multiple chances to do so in the final two minutes. It was like Therrien just gave up.
The Flyers now have 50 points, and despite a few games in hand, seem to be distancing themselves from Washington and the rest of the Metropolitan Division pack. They have just three regulation losses in the last month. Dare I say it’s fun to be a Flyers fan again? It certainly has been lately.
The team is off until Saturday when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Comment of the Night
This has all the makings of a game where G only plays less than 21 minutes.
>> killagram
