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Flyers-Canadiens Game 1 preview: TV, time, odds, notes

The teams last played on Jan. 16, a 4-1 Montreal win. The Flyers have won 19 of 24 games since then.

The Flyers ought to get plenty of traffic in front of Carey Price like Carsen Twarynski did here during the regular season.
The Flyers ought to get plenty of traffic in front of Carey Price like Carsen Twarynski did here during the regular season.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

The Flyers and Canadiens will open their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series Wednesday night in Toronto.

Here’s a look at the series opener with some trivia, history and a couple of funky props:

When: Wednesday, 8 p.m.

Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto

TV: NBCSP, NBCSN. Radio: 93.3 WMMR-FM.

Season series: Flyers won two of three, but needed overtime to do so. Montreal took care of the Flyers, 4-1, in Philly in the final meeting. The Flyers are 19-4-1 since the last meeting. The Canadiens are 13-11-2.

Nov. 7: Flyers, 3-2 (ot) | Nov. 30: Flyers, 4-3 (ot) | Jan. 16: Canadiens, 4-1

Five things:

  1. Just one example of the Flyers’ depth is the reduction in Claude Giroux’s ice time. He averaged 18 minutes, 59 seconds during the season, his fewest minutes per game in nine years.

  2. Montreal coach Claude Julien called the Flyers “the best team in the Eastern Conference right now.”

  3. The Canadiens were second to Vegas in the league during the regular season in shots on goal, at 31.1 per game. The Flyers led the league in fewest shots allowed (28.7). In the teams’ three meetings, Montreal fired off 24, 42 and 40 shots. Flyers goaltenders Carter Hart, Brian Elliott and Alex Lyon each started a game against the Habs.

  4. Tomas Tatar, Montreal’s leading scorer during the regular season, did not have a point in the four-game series win over Pittsburgh. He had three goals and two assists in the three games against the Flyers.

  5. Four teams failed to score a power-play goal during the opening set of games. The Flyers (0-for-11) won the East, Montreal (0-12) stunned the Penguins, Columbus (0-14) slipped by Toronto, and Boston (0-9) lost three round-robin games.

From the books: Multiple sportsbooks report that the heaviest action they’ve seen on Stanley Cup betting has been on the Flyers, whose odds dropped from 12-1 to 6-1 in the last two weeks. The Flyers are moderate favorites tonight at about -150. DraftKings is offering +155 on the Flyers to score more than three goals. ... Travis Konecny is 13-1 to score the first goal, 9-4 to score at any time. ... The Canadiens to win by shutout is 13-1; Flyers are 8-1.

» Video: Remembering Ivan Provorov’s spectacular goal to beat the Canadiens

History lesson: This will be the seventh series between the Flyers and Canadiens. Philadelphia won the last two, in 2008 and 2010, in five games each.

The last word: “We’ve been building since the start of the year, since training camp, to kind of get better and better every day. We’re at that point where we feel we’re playing some of our best hockey, so we’re, we’re pretty confident. But at the same time, we gotta go out there and play and show what we’re made of.” — Sean Couturier