PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Flyers' drought of advancing past the first round of the playoffs will continue until at least Friday night. The Montreal Canadiens staved off elimination Wednesday night with a 5-3 win in a back-and-forth Game 5.
“Their season’s on the line, so you know that they’re gonna bring their best, and I think we were just a half a step slow killing plays, so they were able to connect on a few passes and get some looks in the slot and convert on a couple,” defenseman Matt Niskanen, who was minus-3 in the loss, said postgame.
The spotlight will once again be on Carter Hart Friday. It took less than three minutes in Game 5 for the Canadiens to deny Carter Hart a third-straight shutout. It also appeared Hart was going to get pulled in the second period for backup Brian Elliott when it seemed like Montreal went up 4-2. The Flyers challenge for off-sides was successful, and head coach Alain Vigneault left Hart in.
“I was gonna make a change, but I got a chance to look in Carter’s eyes, and he was fine,” Vigneault said. “So, decided to keep him in there and — at the end of the day — we made a mistake on the fourth goal that we don’t usually make.”
Alain Vigneault on keeping Carter Hart in game“I was going to make a change. And I got a chance to look in Carter’s eyes. And he was ok” pic.twitter.com/YcrYsPQhUz
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS)
August 20, 2020 The Flyers tied the score at 3 with 9:23 left in regulation, but 22 seconds later, Montreal responded to go up for good.
Hart allowed four goals on 32 shots.
“Obviously I got to make a couple more saves,” the 22-year-old said.
“There might be one or two there that he might want to have back there, but at the end of the day we have a lot of faith in him,” Vigneault said. “He’s played extremely well for us, so he’ll be fine next game.”
Something else to keep an eye out for in Game 6 is whether the Flyers top scorers can finally get going in this postseason.
During the regular season, Travis Konecny led the Flyers with 24 goals, followed by Kevin Hayes (23), Sean Couturier (22), Claude Giroux (21) and James van Riemsdyk (19).
None of them have scored since the season restarted. In fact, van Riemsdyk has been kept out of some games.
“We need production 5-on-5 from the guys that have been driving the bus most of the year, but everybody’s working extremely hard right now and confident that we’ll be ready for the next game and those guys will find a way to contribute,” Vigneault said.
A melee breaks out as the time expires on this game. pic.twitter.com/PbwQYGwDtF
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly)
August 20, 2020 Friday night will either be a great moment for Flyers fans — one they’ve waited eight years for. Or, it will set up a win or go home Game 7 on Sunday. No one who cheers for The Orange and Black will want that.
Game 6Friday night on NBC10 pic.twitter.com/BcqgMQk3z3
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS)
August 20, 2020
