Four winners and losers from the Canadiens Game 2 win over the Flyers

Four winners and losers from the Canadiens Game 2 win over the Flyers.

After scoring just one goal Wednesday vs the Flyers, the Canadiens took Philadelphia to the cleaners in game two. These are the four winners and losers of Montreal’s 5-0 win over the Flyers.

Winners

Canadiens Penalty Kill

After allowing a power-play goal to Jake Voracek in game one, Montreal stifled the Flyers power play Friday afternoon. With Montreal already dominating the ice at even-strength, taking hold of the special teams battle just cemented their odds for a win.

Early in the second period, the Flyers set up for an extended five-on-three trailing by three goals. That was their moment to get back into the game. Instead, the Canadiens shut the door. The rattling of a perfect five-for-five on the kill generally gets the job done.

The Montreal penalty kill unit was stout and limited the Flyers to mostly unscreened shots which Carey Price was able to easily swallow up. Speaking of Price…

Carey Price

It felt a bit like Price’s performance on Wednesday night got lost in the fold a bit. Sure, the game was certainly viewed as a goalie duel, but ultimately the loser gets glossed over (unless you’re Jonas Korpisalo setting an NHL saves record). Price was stellar despite the loss Wednesday and Friday he was just as good — if not better.

Sure, his defense made it easier on him, but a goalie still has to make the saves they’re supposed to. He did just that.

Price backstopped the Habs to a 30-save shutout and looked effortless doing so. Not that his play was ever in doubt, but seeing that he picked up right where he left off after the Penguins series should spring hope in the hearts of fans throughout Montreal.

Tomas Tatar

The speedy Slovakian winger was held without a single shot in game one, and if the Canadiens were to even up the series, they would need their leading scorer to get it going.

Sure enough, in game two, Tatar delivered. The 22-goal scorer got the Canadiens on the board just over one minute into the game, setting the tone early. From there, the Canadiens never looked back. Montreal stayed on top of the Flyers and extended their lead in short order.

Tatar picked up a second goal on a carry-over power play early in the second period that pushed the lead to 3-0 and virtually put the Flyers away.

With Tatar finally able to break through, watch out.

Losers

The Flyers forward group

Coming into the playoffs and throughout the round-robin, all the talk surrounding the Flyers was about how deep they were throughout their lineup. And it’s true — after all, depth players like Thompson, Laughton, Pitlick, Farabee and Aube-Kubel all played significant roles in the Flyers first four victories of the playoffs.

However, in game two you’d be hard-pressed to find a single Flyers skater that had even a passable performance.

The top guns like Giroux, Couturier, Konecny and Hayes are still goalless, and Friday night their depth couldn’t save them. The bottom of the lineup got shelled as well, as the Canadiens were swarming all game.

Montreal showed glimpses of what they can do in the second period of game one. They frazzled the Flyers and took them off their game through their excellent forechecking. Game two was a continuation of that. If that’s the team that the Canadiens are going to be in this series, the Flyers need to adjust or it’ll be a quick one.