The Montreal Canadiens released a steamroller that has been too rarely seen this season, and the Philadelphia Flyers had no chance to stop it Friday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
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Tomas Tatar scored his first two goals of the playoffs, the first with barely a minute left in the game, to get the ball rolling and lead the Habs to an easy 5-0 win in Game 2 of the first round series .
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“It felt good to score,” said the Slovakian striker. I had had a few chances in the last few games and I hadn’t been able to make it happen. We played very well from the start of the game and provided a full performance.
“It was a great team effort. It doesn’t matter who scores, what’s important is how we play, and I think we can be very happy with that today. “
In the absence of head coach Claude Julien, back in Montreal after being hospitalized the day before, the Montreal team tied 1-1 in the four of seven clash and will try to continue their momentum during Game 3, Sunday (8 p.m. ET; TVAS, CBC, SN, NHL.TV).
Jesperi Kotkaniemi, with his third and fourth in the playoffs, including one on the power play, and Joel Armia completed the score while the Quebec striker Alex Belzile had his first point in the NHL – an assist that led to Armia’s success. Max Domi also collected three assists.
Carey Price was solid, when needed, and signed the seventh shutout of his playoff career with 30 saves to give Kirk Muller a first playoff victory as head coach. At the end of the match, the captain Shea Weber picked up the puck and it is still unknown who he will return it to.
“I haven’t really seen the guys yet, but the puck should go to Claude,” Muller said. I’m sure he got it for him. It’s an emotional sport and we had to use that. We’re up against one of the best teams in the League.
“To see the guys score quickly at the start of the game and use that emotion throughout the game, it was very pleasant to see. We are an emotional group. “
On the other side, Carter Hart was kicked out of the game after giving up four times on 26 shots in nearly 38 minutes. The day after his 22nd birthday, the young goalkeeper was completely left to himself by his teammates and the Habs celebrated him.
Brian Elliott turned back five shots in relief, as Alain Vigneault’s troops allowed more than one goal for the first time since arriving in the bubble city of Toronto.
Reverse roles
If just one small goal had made the difference in the first match – a 2-1 victory for the Flyers – the Montreal team dominated the second from A to Z. It was to wonder which of the two teams had placed in the first in the East before the start of the playoffs.
“We got our asses kicked in all facets of the game today,” Vigneault said. They worked better, played better and executed the games better than we did. There is no doubt that their will to play the right way was higher than ours. “
Visibly sleepy, the Flyers hardly touched the puck on the first engagement. They were constantly behind the game. It took them a power play late in the period to allow them to take a first shot on the net from Price, with 3:36 to go.
Without Hart’s contribution, the CH could have retired to the locker room with a much more imposing priority than the already very interesting two goals he had.
Video: Doubles for Tatar and Kotkaniemi in victory
“Today, there was energy on the bench before the game, we saw it from the start, argued Jonathan drouin. We scored the first goal and we just continued to build on it. The way we skated and the way we were always on the puck, it was impressive to see. It was one of our best games. “
Delayed 16-6 on shots, the Flyers narrowed the gap in that regard in subsequent periods, but they just never got in the game. They have suffered a second loss in their last 14 games, and will have a lot of work to do by Sunday to rebuild their confidence.
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