Photo Credit: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
A select group of Flyers left the morning skate in Voorhees Monday morning and headed up North to face the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre Monday night. Between training camp and the preseason games it has been a packed schedule for the team and staff.
Take off
Nick Deslauriers, who has looked sharp at camp, looked strong in this game as well. It took him all of 37 seconds to find himself involved in the kind of action that landed him in the penalty box but leaving the Flyers with the man advantage. The Flyers could not find success with the powerplay. In fact by the time the 2nd period was just a few minutes old the Flyers had already gone 0 for 4 on the PP.
However they were more successful on the penalty kill in the 1st. At one point they spent a full two minutes two men short and lived to tell about it. Much of the credit for that accomplishment goes to Flyers goaltender Eetu Makiniemi. Makiniemi played a fantastic 1st period coming up big time and time again. Eetu is at camp this year as a professional tryout. The 25 year old hails from Finland and made a fine showing during the one and a half periods he played in this game.
Cayden Primeau played the first half of the game in net for the Canadiens. He played well enough to keep the Flyers off the board. This Montreal line up is stronger than the version of the Washington Capitals that the Flyers played against the night before. They also had Patrik Laine to deal with in this game.
Turning point
The Flyers had the Habs effectively boxed out early in the 2nd period until Luke Tuch beat Makiniemi low glove side. Ronnie Attard who had a really rough night got his pocket picked in his own zone and Tuch ended up with Makiniemi all to himself. Makeneimi stopped 13 of 14 shots and traded places with Cal Petersen halfway through the 2nd period.
Crash landing
The Flyers started the 3rd period looking a bit tired and disorganized. At that point it was a one goal game but the Canadiens took advantage of the situation and scored three unanswered goals in a matter of minutes. The Flyers were losing battles along the wall. They were making a ton of mistakes and shots from the slot started pouring into the net.
Goals by David Savard, Emil Heineman, and Josh Anderson ran the score up to 4-0 less than six minutes into the 3rd. The Flyers could not get anything going. The four goal deficit became more apparently insurmountable by the minute. The Orange and Black just didn’t have that spark tonight. They looked spent. The Canadiens added a late goal by Alex Barre-Boulet to make it 5-0. The final horn could not come quick enough. Cal Petersen stopped 8 of 12 shots in one and a half periods of play.
This was a preseason loss that the Flyers need to put behind them as quickly as possible. Part of what defines a team is their ability to take the hit and bounce back. Well they certainly took the hit now the rest is up to them.
Lay over
Training Camp has a scheduled day off tomorrow and it seems to be coming right on time. It will be a chance to regroup, refresh, and get mentally prepared for what lies ahead. Camp resumes Wednesday. The next preseason match-up is in Philly this Thursday night against the New York Islanders. The puck drops at 7PM.
