Canadiens at Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers will have plenty of momentum when they open a three-game homestand that leads into the All-Star break with a matchup against the struggling Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. The Flyers own points in four of the last five contests (3-1-1), capped by a confidence-building 4-3 overtime triumph at reigning Stanley Cup champion St. Louis on Wednesday, ending the Blues’ nine-game home winning streak.
Philadelphia announced No. 1 goalie Carter Hart would miss 2-to-3 weeks with an abdominal strain, but former St. Louis goalie Brian Elliott made 30 saves to beat his former team and Jakub Voracek snapped a 10-game goal drought with his overtime winner. The Flyers will go after a three-game season series sweep of Montreal after winning a pair of overtime contests in November as center Sean Couturier and defenseman Ivan Provorov each scored a winner and set up the other. The Canadiens seemed to have something going with two straight wins after an eight-game losing streak, but gave up a pair of goals in the opening 8:32 of the contest and could never recover in a 4-1 loss to Chicago on Wednesday at home. Montreal also hosts Vegas on Saturday before the break and sits nine points behind Philadelphia for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: NBCS Philadelphia, RDS, TSN2
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (20-21-7): Center Max Domi has not scored in eight games since recording a goal in six straight and owns one point in the past six contests after being benched for a few shifts following bad penalty in the second period against Chicago. Left wing Tomas Tatar was held off the scoresheet for the second straight game Wednesday, but leads the team with 39 points, while center Phillip Danault scored for second time in four contests to push his season total to 12. Carey Price (18-16-4, .907 save percentage) was rested in Wednesday’s setback after turning aside 72 of 73 shots to win his past two starts.
ABOUT THE FLYERS (25-16-6): Couturier continued his torrid stretch with a pair of assists Wednesday to improve his totals to three goals and 11 points over the first seven games of January to take over the team lead with 41 points. Voracek notched his ninth goal of the season in overtime and Provorov ended a five-game point drought with an assist against St. Louis while Travis Konecny scored his team-leading 15th goal. Elliott (10-5-3, .897 SP) might get a start back-to-back with Hart gone until February, but Alex Lyon (13 NHL games) was recalled from AHL Lehigh Valley, where he was 9-11-2 with a .916 SP.
OVERTIME
1. Philadelphia C Scott Laughton had an assist Wednesday and is slated to play his 300th NHL game Thursday.
2. Montreal LW Ilya Kovalchuk added an assist Wednesday and boasts five points (one goal) in six games since being signed as a free agent.
3. The Canadiens are 2-for-29 on the power play over the last nine contests after failing on three tries against Chicago.