Carter Hart leads Philadelphia Flyers past Montreal Canadiens in Game 1
The Philadelphia Flyers took the first game of their round one series against the Montreal Canadiens by a score of 2-1.
The Philadelphia Flyers entered the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the number one seed in the Eastern Conference, while the Montreal Canadiens came into round one as the lowest ranked seed after upsetting the Pittsburgh Penguins in the play-in round.
As the favorites in the series, the Flyers were expected to come out as the winners of Game 1, but Montreal and Carey Price didn’t make it easy for them.
The first goal of the game came in the middle of the first period when Flyers defensemen Ivan Provorov scored a power play goal to put his team up by one. Montreal goalie Carey Price was screened on the play and couldn’t see the shot from the point after it took a deflection.
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Going into the second period of play, Montreal had the Flyers on their heels. The Habs aggressive forechecking and pressure in the offensive zone swung the momentum Montreal’s way.
Later into the period, Philadelphia had a golden opportunity to go up by two when Scott Laughton was staring at a wide open net with the puck on his stick. What seemed like a guaranteed goal became possibly the best save of the season when Carey Price tipped the puck with his stick as he laid on his stomach outside his crease.
The shots were pretty even in the second as each team exchanged glorious scoring chances. The deadlock was broken with a little over five minutes remaining in the second when Montreal captain Shea Weber buried a loose puck past an out of position Carter Hart on the power play, tying the game up at one.
Montreal’s tying goal didn’t last long though, just sixteen seconds after Weber’s goal, Flyers rookie Joel Farabee collected his own rebound and put the go ahead goal past Carey Price, making the score 2-1.
Down by one heading into the third, Montreal needed to find a way past Carter Hart. The Habs had their fair share of chances to tie the game up at two, but Hart was unbeatable.
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Montreal’s best chance of the third came with under 30 seconds remaining in the game, when Nick Suzuki rang a wrist shot over Carter Harts head and off the crossbar. Hart ended the night with 28 saves and his team is up one heading into game two of the series.