Postgame 5: Flyers Fall to Habs, 3-2 

The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2, on Saturday evening at Bell Centre. All three Montreal goals came in the third period. In the process, the Flyers were mathematically eliminated from the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Flyers opened the game by registering four of the first five shots on goal in the first period. In the process, they grabbed an early lead that they took to the first intermission.

Scoring his eighth goal and 11th point in the last 11 games, Ryan Poehling (12th of the season ) finished off a tic-tac-toe play for a 1-0 lead at 4:10 of the first period. The assists went to Jakob Pelletier and Cam York.

Matvei Michkov was cut across the bridge of his nose by a careless high stick from William Carrier at 5:41. The Flyers went on a four-minute power play. The shorthanded Canadiens had better pressure than the Flyers. The lone shot belonged to Montreal but Montreal spent much of the latter part on the attack.

With manpower back at 5-on-5, the Canadiens were not quite able to connect on a point blank chance for Patrik Laine created by rookie defenseman Lane Hutson.

At 11:38, York backhanded the puck over the glass from behind the Philadelphia net. He was penalized for delay of game. Samuel Ersson made a good save on a Cole Caufield one-timer from the slot.

First period shots on goal favored the Flyers, 7-4. Former Habs winger Nicolas Deslauriers was credited with four hits over his four shifts.

The second period was largely controlled by the Canadiens. Thanks to Ersson and the skaters in front of him, the Flyers nursed their 1-0 lead into the third period.

In the opening minute of the second period, Travis Konecny attacked the net but wasn't able to slide the puck through the five-hole against Sam Montembault.

At 5:10, Ersson stopped a Nick Suzuki deflection for his sixth save of the game. Two shifts later, at 6:59, Ersson made a highlight reel glove save on Christian Dvorak to protect the one-goal lead.

Pelletier went off for slashing at 11:05. Ersson read a Suzuki one-timer and the defense cleared the puck the length of the ice. The Flyers killed off the rest of the minor penalty.

Ersson made another 10-bell save, this time with the blocker, on a Suzuki blast at 15:29. Initially, it seemed like half of the net was open. Two shifts later, Nick Seeler came up with a key shot block in the slot.

With 1:17 on the clock before the second intermission, Garnet Hathaway landed a big hit. On the next shift, it was Owen Tippett's turn to take the body.

Second period shots on goal were 11-5 in Montreal's favor. The Habs took over the 40-minute shot lead, 15-12.

Barely a minute into the second period, Evans missed the net on a one-timer. Moments later, the Habs didn't miss. Brendan Gallagher (20th of the season) tied the game at 1:24. The assists went to Evans and Dvorak.

On the next shift after the Gallagher goal, Kaiden Guhle nearly gave the Canadiens the lead. Moments later, with Ersson down in the reverse VH, Hutson (6th goal of the season) went end-to-end after starting out behind the Montreal net. Hutson sniped a shot into the top corner to the short side for a 2-1 lead. Suzuki picked up the lone assist.

Poehling and Bobby Brink created dangerous plays over the next two shifts but the Flyers were unable to put the puck on net. At the other end of the ice, Ersson turned away a Dvorak bid for an insurance goal.

The Flyers received a power play at 9:20 as Juraj Slafkovsky boarded Sean Couturier. It was a dangerous-looking play, but the Flyers captain was OK.

Ersson misplayed a dump-in by Guhle to where the goaltender couldn't legally play it outside the trapezoid. Suzuki pounced on the puck first, wheeled around, and beat Ersson on a turnaround shot off a shinpad at 10:39 (SHG, 27th). The lone assist went to Guhle.

With 3:34 left in the third period, the Flyers pulled Ersson for a 6-on-4 attack. Couturier put a tricky shot on net that Motembault fought off. Poehling and Couturier each had subsequent cracks at getting the Flyers back within one goal.

At 18:43, a puck over the glass from the defensive zone by Mike Matheson, created a 6-on-4 attack for Philadelphia. With 38.5 seconds left, Tyson Foerster (PPG, 19th) scored from near the hash marks to narrow the gap to 3-2. Konecny earned his 50th assist of the season. Poehling received the secondary assist, making it a two-point game.

Ersson returned to the net for the center ice faceoff. He went back to the bench as soon as Philadelphia gained possession. A last-ditch shot attempt by Michkov went wide just before time expired.

In a losing cause, Ersson made 24 saves on 27 shots. Montembeault stopped 21 of 23 shots. Third period shots on goal were 12-11 in the Canadiens' favor.

The Flyers went 1-for-4 on the power play but yielded a shorthanded goal for the eighth time this season. They were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

FLYERS STARTING LINEUP

71 Tyson Foerster -27 Noah Cates - 10 Bobby Brink
39 Matvei Michkov - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
22 Jakob Pelletier - 25 Ryan Poehling - 74 Owen Tippett
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 23 Karsen Dorwart - 19 Garnet Hathaway

24 Nick Seeler - 6 Travis Sanheim
8 Cam York - 9 Jamie Drysdale
5 Egor Zamula - 36 Emil Andrae

33 Samuel Ersson

[82 Ivan Fedotov]

Scratches: 15 Olle Lycksell (healthy), 18 Rodrigo Abols (healthy), 55 Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body), 35 Aleksei Kolosov (healthy).

PP1: Konecny, Couturier, Brink, Foerster, Michkov
PP2: Sanheim, Tippett, Cates, Lycksell, Drysdale

TURNING POINT

The goal by Hutson was an excellent shot from a tough angle, but a save selection choice that was telegraphed too soon. The shorthanded goal for Suzuki that stood as the game winner was a misplay by Ersson. It was an unfortunate turn of events after the Flyers goalie had been outstanding through 40 minutes.

POSTGAME 5 ("RAV4 THINGS" REVISITED)

1. Karsen Dorwart's NHL debut: The now-former Michigan State Spartans center skated 10:32 over 15 shifts in his first game in the National Hockey League. Dorwart had two shots on goal, two credited hits and went 2-for-5 on faceoffs.

2. Michkov watch: The 20-year-old Russian winger had several shifts where he found a seam, but the puck hopped on him or went off his skate. Cut across his nose in the first period, Michkov hobbled to the bench in the second after a hit by Jake Evans. He seemed OK thereafter.

3. Chase for 20: Owen Tippett: Entering the game one goal away from achieving the 20-plus goal milestone in each of his three full seasons since arriving in Philadelphia, Tippett is still at 19 goals. His last goal came 13 games ago.

4. Chase for 20: Tyson Foerster: Foerster came to Montreal needing two goals to reach 20 tallies in each of his first two full NHL seasons. His late game power play goal brought him within one.

5. X-factor -- 5-Day Layoff: The Flyers showed no ill-effects from the protracted layoff. Philly was the better team in the first period with the key exception of a poor four-minute power play that saw several turnovers by the Flyers. The more impactful problems set in over the latter part of the game, which had nothing to do with the protracted off-time. The Flyers battled hard but fell short after the Canadiens scored three in a row.