5 Takeaways: Flyers Dominated by Montreal in 5-2 Loss

The Philadelphia Flyers started this game with little to no energy Friday night.

Things didn’t get much better as they fell to the injury-riddled Montreal Canadiens, 5-2, at the boo-happy Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers (23-27-10) really miss Travis Konecny, who was still out with an upper- body injury. The Canadiens (25-29-4) were missing at least 10 injured regulars, and they were skating faster and beating the Flyers to the puck for large stretches. Even with a slightly better third period, it didn’t matter

Philly got a late goal from Ivan Provorov, but it was too little, too late.

The Flyers got dominated and lost for the sixth time in the last seven games.

Here are my five takeaways:

1. Carter Hart did what he could.

Hart faced a lot of high-danger chances, especially when the Flyers were on the penalty kill. Heading into the third period the penalty kill was 1 for  2. Hart never got frustrated and he stopped some good chances early in the third to keep the game close.

The Canadiens scored their fourth goal on the power play play. Jesse Ylonen got the goal at 6:26. It was deflating. The Canadiens fifth goal was scored by Josh Anderson. That sent people to the exits.

Are you ready for some hockey? #MTLvsPHI is underway from @WellsFargoCtr. #FueledByPhilly pic.twitter.com/UOdL88rJjp

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 25, 2023

2. Owen Tippett opened up the third period with his 17th goal.

Eight seconds into the third, Tippett got a nice feed from Morgan Frost and he buried a long wrist shot to make it a 3-1 game. It was nice to see energy back and the crowd erupted. It was a great way to try and get back into the game.

“I always tell ya. I think he’s going to be a good player for us,” coach John Tortorella said. “I look at how some players are improving as you look to forecast the future. That’s exciting.”

Owen Tippett scores his 17th goal of the season nine seconds into the third period. The Flyers aren't dead yet. pic.twitter.com/J9pQHUjtw0

— Ryan Quigley (@ryanquigz) February 25, 2023

3. The Canadiens took control.

Earlier, Nick Suzuki gave the Habs a 3-0 second-period lead, and it wasn’t Hart’s fault. The Flyers were back to being low energy and the building had no juice.

4. Wade Allison won his fight with Alex Belzile early in the second period.

Allison got the extra two minutes for starting the altercation. Belzile laid a hard check on Scott Laughton, and Allison jumped the Canadiens’ player.

The Flyers’ RW got the instigator, five for fighting and ten-minute game misconduct, putting the Canadiens on the power play at 6:53. The Canadiens got the power-play goal from Chris Tierney at 7:12 of the second period. It was 2-0, Canadiens.

Tierney was playing his first game for Montreal after being plucked off the waiver wire.

5. The Canadiens dominated late in the first period.

The Habs got the first goal of the game off a David Savard shot at 17:50 of the first period. Montreal dominated the Flyers with a strong cycle, and they tired out the Philadelphia defense.

Then Michael Pezzetta beat the Philadelphia Flyers’ defense to the puck and made a diving pass to Tierney, who put the puck past Hart with five seconds left in the first.

“That’s a kick in the teeth,” Tortorella stated. “It’s just a nothing play with (five) seconds left. Yorkie chases for no reason. Just kill the clock. All you have to do is just defend the important ice in front of the net. And the period will run out…That’s a hard one to swallow.”

The boos rained down.

Breakaways

The Flyers had no power plays; Montreal was 1 for 2 with an extra skater. … Frost had a pair of assists. … Tippett had eight shots. … Philly won just 44.6% of the faceoffs. … The Flyers went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. … Justin Braun was the seventh defenseman….The Flyers play again Saturday night in New Jersey against the Devils. … Canadiens goalie Jake Allen had a fairly easy night….Habs fans in attendance were singing the Ole’ song as time winded down. … Scott Laughton had six hits and two blocked shots. … Seattle was among the teams scouting the game. Kraken coach Dave Hakstol has familiarity with many Flyers players.