Philadelphia 3, Montreal 2
When: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, August 21, 2020
Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Ontario
Referees:
Gord Dwyer, Jean Hebert
Linesmen:
Steve Barton, Devin Berg
Attendance:
N/A
By Field Level Media
Kevin Hayes scored a goal and added an assist to lift the Philadelphia Flyers past the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Friday in Toronto, sealing their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series in six games.
Ivan Provorov and Michael Raffl added one goal apiece as the Flyers won a playoff series for the first time since 2012. The top-seeded Flyers will battle the sixth-seeded New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference semifinals, which, like the quarterfinals, will be best-of-seven.
Flyers goaltender Carter Hart, who recorded two shutouts in this series, made 31 saves Friday.
Nick Suzuki scored both goals for the eighth-seeded Canadiens.
Joel Arnia and Jonathan Drouin contributed two assists each for Montreal.
Canadiens goaltender Carey Price stopped 14 of 17 shots.
The Flyers jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 28 seconds into the first period when Provorov ripped a wrist shot through traffic. The puck appeared to deflect off Montreal's Shea Weber and into the net.
Following a power play, the Flyers stayed aggressive and Hayes scored his first goal of the series when he sent the puck through Price's pads for a 2-0 lead at 5:23 of the first.
Suzuki cut the deficit to 2-1 when he corralled a rebound in front and tapped the puck through Hart to score on the power play at 10:03 of the opening period.
The Flyers regained their two-goal advantage when Jakub Voracek sent a crisp pass to Travis Sanheim, who delivered a shot off Raffl at 4:26 of the second.
But Montreal struck quickly at 6:05 as Suzuki registered his second goal to close the gap to 3-2.
The Canadiens nearly tied the game when Tomas Tatar fired a shot from point-blank range off Hart and into the seats at 13:11 in the third.
Montreal pulled Price for an extra skater with 1:50 left but couldn't capitalize despite several good scoring opportunities in the final 30 seconds.
Philadelphia's Matt Niskanen was suspended for the Friday game after cross-checking Brendan Gallagher in Game 5. Gallagher sustained a broken jaw and underwent surgery.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Philadelphia |
|
Montreal |
Kevin Hayes 2 |
Points |
Nick Suzuki 2 |
Kevin Hayes 1 |
Goals |
Nick Suzuki 2 |
Kevin Hayes 1 |
Assists |
Joel Armia 2 |
N/A |
Power Play Goals |
Nick Suzuki 1 |
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
Carter Hart .939 |
Save Percentage |
Carey Price .824 |
Carter Hart 31 |
Saves |
Carey Price 14 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
Philadelphia
|
17 |
3 |
0-4 |
1-2 |
4 |
29 |
Montreal
|
33 |
2 |
1-2 |
4-4 |
8 |
30 |
Upcoming Games
-
Philadelphia will play their next game at home against NY Islanders. The Flyers have a W/L % of .610 after a win and .571 after a loss.