Observations from Flyers’ 1-0 win over Canadiens in Game 3
Carter Hart made Jake Voracek's first-period goal stand up, and became the youngest Flyers goalie ever to record a playoff shutout.
Couple changes by Alain Vigneault led to a much better effort by the Flyers after Friday’s Game 2 disaster.
The responded with a 1-0 victory, but they’re gonna need some more fixes — specifically to a power-play that remains mostly dormant. Some other observations.
Hart response. Carter Hart rebounded after getting pulled in Game 2, though he did have some help from his nets. Hart twice bailed out Scott Laughton after two egregious turnovers in the Flyers zone in the second period. First he denied Brendan Gallagher then stopped Jonathan Drouin. Laughton was replaced for a shift by Michael Raffl alongside Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny.
Young blood. Hart (22 years, 3 days) became the youngest Flyers goalie to record a playoff shutout, besting a mark previously set in 1980 by Pete Peeters (22 years, 246 days). He also became the first Flyers goalie to record a shutout in August. God-willing that record will never be equaled.
The band’s back together. After starting the first two games on the third line, Jake Voracek was back with the first unit. Voracek scored the game’s only goal by crashing the net and deflecting a pass by Claude Giroux, who had his most effective game of the series.
Good line. Voracek’s goal was his second in three games and the kind of ugly play that teams need to make in the playoffs. “I’ve scored two goals and I haven’t needed my stick yet,” he quipped.
Other moves. Joel Farabee and Shayne Gostisbehere were scratched and replaced by Michael Raffl and Robert Hagg, respectively.
What’s next. Game 4 is Tuesday at 3 p.m. (NBCSP, NBCSN). The Flyers are 20-3 in series all-time when they grab a 2-1 lead.
Double doink. Hart was quite fortunate in the first when the Canadiens hit the post twice within eight seconds. First Jesperi Kotkaniemi hit the pipe on Hart’s stick side, then Brett Kulak rang one off the iron behind Hart’s glove. The Habs hit the post three other times.
Our three stars. Carter Hart, Carey Price, Travis Konecny.
Power-play problems. The Flyers are 1-for-25 on the power-play in the postseason, and are 1-for-14 in this series in 24 minutes, 18 seconds of time. They had three power-plays in a row where they didn’t register a shot on goal. The Flyers even tried Derek Grant out there.
He said it. “When you play against a goaltender that is as good as Carey Price, you can try to get too cute. I think for the Flyers, it’s about get to the net and maybe get more ugly goals in front of the net.”
— NBC analyst Brian Boucher