Montreal shows it can hang with Philly
TORONTO — Claude Julien marvelled at the Philadelphia Flyers this week. The head coach of the Montreal Canadiens was impressed by their depth, team play and skill from top to bottom.
Despite a disappointing result Wednesday, Julien has now seen first-hand that his roster can hang with the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Carter Hart made 27 saves, Joel Farabee scored 16 seconds after Montreal tied the game, and the Flyers defeated the Canadiens 2-1 in the opener of their firstround playoff series.
After a sluggish first period — Montreal’s first action since eliminating the heavily-favoured Pittsburgh Penguins in the qualifying round Friday — the Canadiens got their legs going in the second and went blow-for-blow with the Broadstreet Bullies.
“I thought we did well,” Julien said. “The first period was a tough period for us. Whether it was because we hadn’t played in the last four or five days or whether we’re a little nervous and trying to feel our way through, but I thought from the second period on, we really started playing our game. We built some confidence in knowing that we can play with these guys.”
Ivan Provorov had the other goal for the Flyers, who will look to take a 2-0 lead in the best-ofseven matchup Friday afternoon. Shea Weber replied for the Canadiens, while Carey Price stopped 29 shots in the loss.
“It’s what we expected,” Philadelphia head coach Alain Vigneault said. “Low-scoring, tight-checking game. Two good teams, good goaltending on both sides.”
Montreal, the final club in the NHL’s 24-team restart, stunned the Penguins 3-1 in the best-offive qualifying round to book a place in the usual 16-slot playoff bracket.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, sat fourth of four teams vying for the No. 1 seed in the East, but beat the Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning by a combined 11-3 scoreline in the round-robin tournament to grab the top spot. “We showed that we can play with them,” Weber said. “We believe that we can play with them.”
Down 1-0 after that tentative first, the Canadiens got even at 14:38 of the second. The teams were even for exactly 16 seconds, however, as Farabee picked up his own rebound deflection on what looked like a nothing play to double his total.