FINAL | Round 1 – Game 6 | Friday, August 21, 2020

Flyers Win Series 4-2

Flyers Lineup

Michael Raffl – Sean Couturier – Jakub Voracek

Joel Farabee – Kevin Hayes – Travis Konecny

Laughton – Derek Grant – Claude Giroux

James van Riemsdyk – Nate Thompson – Tyler Pitlick

Ivan Provorov – Robert Hagg

Travis Sanheim – Philippe Myers

Shayne Gostisbehere – Justin Braun

Carter Hart – Brian Elliott

Andy Welinski, Andy Andreoff, Morgan Frost, Egor Zamula, Mark Friedman, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Connor Bunnaman, Alex Lyon, Kirill Ustimenko, Oskar Lindblom, Matt Niskanen (suspension)

None

Game Report

In the 48 hours that passed since the final horn in Game Five, a lot happened between the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers. Brendan Gallagher was diagnosed with a broken jaw and sent for surgery, not to return for the remainder of the series.  After that news was released, the NHL suspended Matt Niskanen one game for his cross-check on Gallagher. That punishment drew the ire of Habs fans, but General Manager Marc Bergevin announced in a game-day press conference that he was more disappointed in Alain Vigneault‘s casual remarks about Gallagher’s injury the previous day, before final word of the extent of his injury was known. Vigneault, in response, doubled down and maintained that Gallagher got up and kept chirping the referees and the Flyers bench after sustaining his injury, a comment identical to something Gallagher accused Derek Stepan of when Vigneault coached the New York Rangers in 2014.

But what really mattered was what would happen when these two teams took the ice. Could the Flyers finally put Montreal away? Or would the Canadiens find a way to hang on yet again, and force Game Seven?

Philadelphia quickly put their mark on the game when, just 28 seconds after the opening faceoff, Ivan Provorov blasted a shot from the point that made its way through traffic and deflected in the Montreal net off of defenseman Shea Weber. About five minutes later, Kevin Hayes received a quick pass from Derek Grant behind the net which Hayes fired onto Carey Price. The puck ricocheted off of the netminder’s equipment and over the goal line. Philadelphia found themselves up 2-0 early.

Young Nick Suzuki got the Canadiens on the board when he went to the front of the net on a power play and corralled a bouncing rebound and tapped it past Carter Hart. The Flyers looked to extend their lead once again on back-to-back power play opportunities, but Price came up with some big saves to keep it a one-goal game heading into intermission.

The Flyers did manage to add to their lead in the second period when Jakub Voracek centered a pass back to Travis Sanheim, who rifled the puck toward Price and deflected it in thanks to Michael Raffl‘s efforts on the doorstep. 90 seconds later Suzuki struck again from a sharp angle after Jonathan Drouin took the puck from Sanheim and swiftly made a cross-ice pace to the young forward.

Montreal completely controlled the puck and the pace of play in the middle frame, with the Flyers only having seven total shots on goal 32 minutes into the game. Vigneault’s team looked like they were simply trying to survive and hang on until intermission, which they did.

But things changed in the third period. The Flyers had a much stronger forecheck, sustained good pressure in the offensive zone, and kept Montreal on its heels. Hart seemed to be swallowing pucks, not allowing rebounds, and seeing the puck much better than the previous two periods. It was a tense 20 minutes of play, but in the end the Flyers held strong to advance to the next round.

This series proved to be a bit more difficult for the Flyers to slug through than most people expected, but they ultimately prevailed. However their next opponent, the New York Islanders, won’t be easy to defeat either. Weaknesses exposed in this series will need to be addressed quickly, as Philadelphia continues their run to the Stanley Cup.

Plus / Minus

▲  Kevin Hayes, Derek Grant, Ivan Provorov, Shayne Gostisbehere

▼  Nate Thompson, James van Riemsdyk