Stanley Cup Playoffs: Canadiens vs. Flyers series preview

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Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images) /

Matchups

How do the Flyers and Canadiens stack up against each other?

Forwards

The Flyers have an impressive group of forwards, though they rely more on their depth. That isn’t to say their best players aren’t great, because they are great. Rather, the Flyers have multiple forwards who can beat you and each of their lines can generate offense.

Their shutdown line is headed by Selke Trophy finalist Sean Couturier, who had 59 points in 69 games this season. He’s flanked by Claude Giroux (21 goals, 53 points) and Jakub Voracek (12 goals, 56 points), though the latter missed their game against the Lightning because he was deemed “unfit to play”. But even if he misses time, the Flyers have guys who can play up.

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Kevin Hayes, Travis Konecny, and Scott Laughton form a very effective second line. Laughton could very well be the dark horse in the Flyers lineup, as he entered the season as a bottom-six forward and got a well-deserved promotion to the second line.

James van Riemsdyk, Derek Grant, and Nicolas Aubé-Kubel form a pretty strong third line. Ryan has helped solidify that line while van Riemsdyk gives it a bit of offense. Much like Laughton, Aubé-Kubel is someone who forced his way into a deep lineup.

Michael Raffl, Nate Thompson, and Tyler Pitlick should form the fourth line, though Raffl missed a bit of time in the round robin tournament due to an injury. Should he be unable to play, expect either Joel Farabee or Connor Bunnaman to draw in for him.

On the other side of the ice, the Montreal Canadiens bread and butter during the regular season was their top line of Philip Dannault, Brendan Gallagher, and Tomas Tatar. In Game 3, head coach Claude Julien made the bold decision to break it up to spread out the talent. It worked, as the Habs won both Game 3 and Game 4.

Their “new” first line features Danault, Artturi Lehkonen, and Paul Byron. In a very small sample size against the Penguins, they were great. The Canadiens “new” second line has Nick Suzuki flanked by Gallagher and Tatar. That line didn’t do nearly as well as the top line.

On the third line, the Habs have second-year center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, with Jonathan Drouin and Joel Armia as his wings. They held their own against the Pens, though they didn’t create too much offense.

The fourth line is led by Max Domi, who didn’t have a good series against Pittsburgh. Frankly, he earned his spot on the fourth line. The line also features Dale Weise and either Jake Evans or Alex Belzile. Evans got injured during the Penguins series.

Advantage: Flyers

Defense

Much like their forwards, the Flyers rely on their depth defensively. Again, that’s not to say they don’t have top-notch guys because they do. Think of it as a compliment to how strong each of their three pairings are.

Ivan Provorov has emerged as one of the best defensemen in the NHL. He’s always had the talent to be this good and head coach Alain Vigneault was able to get it out of him. Matt Niskanen is the ying to his yang, just like he was with Dmitry Orlov during his time with the Washington Capitals.

Their second pairing features Travis Sanheim and Phillipe Myers, who were quite impressive in the round-robin tournament. The Flyers outscored their opponents at 5v5 4-0 with them on the ice. Sanheim is the driver on that pairing and Myers complements him well. They cover each other’s weaknesses.

The Flyers most fun pairing might be their third pairing. Especially if Shayne Gostisbehere’s on it. He came into the postseason with his lineup spot in question, but he was confident and composed in the round-robin tournament, picking up two assists in his lone game. That might get him the spot next to Justin Braun on the third pairing. If it doesn’t, Robert Hagg will have that spot.

Meanwhile, the Canadiens defense is led by Jeff Petry, who is one of the most underrated defensemen in the NHL. He was fabulous against the Penguins and even managed to get an overtime game-winner against them in Game 1.

There’s a good argument to be had about which of the Habs top two pairings is actually their top pairing, but considering it was Brett Kulak and Petry who were matched up against Crosby, I’d say it’s them. Ben Chariot and Shea Weber, who played a large part in shutting down Evgeni Malkin, are pretty good too.

Their third pairing consists of Xavier Ouellet and Victor Mete. They struggled a bit against the Penguins (38.27% xGF%), so that’s something to keep an eye on.

Advantage: Flyers

Goaltending

Two Canadian icons will be going at it in this one. Carey Price is the heart and soul of the Canadiens. He stole Game 1 for them, which helped set the tone for the rest of the series against the Penguins. The Habs will need Price to be strong against the Flyers as well and they present a different challenge than the Penguins did. Charlie Lindgren will be his backup.

On the other side of the ice, Carter Hart will probably be the starting goalie for the Flyers. He was the more impressive of the two in training camp and in round-robin play. Brian Elliott was Philly’s backup goalie and did well.

Advantage: Close, but I’ll go with the Flyers because I trust Brian Elliott way more than I trust Charlie Lindgren.

Special Teams

My best friend is a Canadiens fan. He always tells me the Habs should decline power plays. Frankly, it’s hard for me to disagree with him. In 22 minutes against the Penguins, they only mustered eight shots on goal and zero goals. Their penalty kill allowed three PP goals to the Penguins, though they spent nearly half an hour shorthanded, so it’s not as bad it sounds.

It’s hard for me to take the round-robin seriously, but the Flyers penalty kill looked strong on both ends of special teams during the tournament. They didn’t commit penalties and when they did, they only allowed one goal in 16 minutes. Their power play, though, didn’t score a goal in three games and struggled to generate offense.

Advantage: Flyers

Coaching

Claude Julien gets brownie points for being bold enough to split up his top line. It was a brave decision and it proved to be a pretty good one. Julien can always go back to Tatar, Danault, and Gallagher if he needs to. I like the adjustments Julien made after Game 2.

Alain Vigneault had his guys prepared for the round-robin tournament, which speaks volumes considering they were the only team from the East who really gave a crap about it. As usual, his system is more defense-oriented, but he has a strong crop of forwards and rightfully lets them do their thing.