Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A look at the standings before Tuesday night’s game between the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre hinted at a mismatch between the Eastern Conference’s top team in the Habs and the last-place team in the visitors. You’d assume the eventual 5-4 final score in favour of the Flyers would leave Habs fans severely disappointed. However, due to the three goals the home side spotted the Flyers in the game’s first 10 minutes, they were probably only mildly so in the end.
Game Recap
The Canadiens actually took the lead with four straight goals despite the initial three-goal deficit. Two Flyers goals came off the stick of Bobby Brink, who also opened the scoring two minutes into the contest. In a parallel universe though, Brink could have ended up the scapegoat.
With the game tied 3-3 in the second, Brink ill-advisedly tripped Ivan Demidov in the offensive zone, resulting in a power play and Demidov getting his revenge by beating Flyers goalie Dan Vladar for the go-ahead goal.
Considering how much momentum had shifted, the general sentiment was the Canadiens would run away with this one at that point. However, Flyers rookie Nikita Grebenkin knotted things up 4-4 midway through the third when he beat a stickless Sam Montembeault for his first-ever NHL goal.
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Earlier on the play, Montembeault had lost his stick when it got caught in teammate Alexandre Carrier’s skate, making the goalie’s bad luck a recurring theme in this one. Based on Montembeault’s well-documented struggles this season, heading into the contest, you’d be forgiven for assuming head coach Martin St. Louis would bench him after the poor start. However, with 38 saves overall (to Vladar’s 16), Montembeault oddly enough kept the Habs in the game for large stretches. His stat line may not have merited star-of the-game honours, but, without him, they certainly wouldn’t have gotten the one point, Trevor Zegras scoring the only goal in the shootout, on a night when they showed up late, if even at all.
Kirby Dach finally got the Canadiens on the board early in the second. He put home a Noah Dobson shot that caromed behind the net right to him, as he caught Vladar looking the wrong way. Dach also evened things up after Nick Suzuki had gotten the Habs within one. Defenseman Lane Hutson deked out just about everyone as he skated behind the net, setting up Dach at the side of the net in the process for the relatively easy tap-in. About 2.5 minutes later, Demidov tied it, setting the stage for Grebenkin’s game-tying goal and the third overtime game in a row for the Habs, who suffered their first extra-frame defeat this season.
The now 9-3-1 Canadiens visit the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. The 7-5-1 Flyers next play the Nashville Predators, also on the road, also on Thursday.
