Game 33: Montreal Canadiens vs. Philadelphia Flyers
Start time: 7:00 PM EST / 4:00 PM PST
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Flyers region: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
When the Montreal Canadiens played the Philadelphia Flyers six weeks ago, the Habs were a different team. They often fell behind in games and then relied on their depth of skill to pull them back in them, tying things up and getting games to overtime. They had overcome third-period deficits in five of the first 13 games leading up that match on November 4, and on that night they did the hard work in the second period to erase a three-goal deficit and turn it into lead of their own. The Flyers turned the tables with a tying goal in the third and then claimed the victory in the shootout to end what had been a perfect 5-0 run by Montreal in games going beyond regulation.
Now with injuries to Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach, the Habs have had to spread their offensive talent thinner. They’ve only had two such late comebacks since as opponents don’t have as many threats to worry about. On November 15 when Dach went down two days after Newhook, the Canadiens were sixth in the league scoring 3.33 goals a game. From that date they are an average 16th at 3.07; still good considering the loss of two middle-six players, but not nearly as capable of putting together multiple shifts of offensive pressure.
Their saving grace has been the power play, which went from being 11th on November 15 to the best in the league since at 34.3%. Now they can just put all of the good players who are still healthy on a unit and generate offence that way.
Tale of the Tape
Canadiens
Statistics
Flyers
17-11-4
Record
16-9-6
48.3% (24th)
Expected-goal share
48.8% (19th)
3.22 (9th)
Goals per game
2.81 (26th)
3.47 (28th)
Goals against per game
2.77 (9th)
26.4% (4th)
PP%
16.5% (25th)
76.2% (25th)
PK%
81.6% (14th)
0-0-1
Head-to-Head Record (24-25)
1-0-0
Cole Caufield (17)
Most goals
Trevor Zegras (13)
Nick Suzuki (28)
Most assists
Trevor Zegras (19)
Nick Suzuki (37)
Most points
Trevor Zegras (32)
As the Habs and Flyers meet up for the second time, they sit tied on 38 points, but have come by them in different ways. While Montreal’s have largely been the result of their offence, the Flyers are putting in the work on the defensive side. It is quite impressive that they rank ninth in goals against as the league’s fifth-youngest team, and it’s been a big jump in performance for 3.45 goals against last season to 2.77 this year.
Signing Dan Vladar in free agency has proven to be a great move. The team struggled in the net last year, but he is sporting a .908 save percentage while Ivan Fedotov, once a prized prospect the Flyers system, is now playing in the AHL following an off-season trade to Columbus.
Now with some goaltending, the defensive prowess they’ve had for a few seasons now is shining through. Philadelphia is one of the best teams at limiting shots against and ranks seventh-best in high-danger chances allowed after finishing fourth last year. It’s a group that doesn’t give up much, and rarely loses by more than one goal.
With that needed change in place, another off-season add is helping on offence. Trevor Zegras was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks at the NHL Draft for the cost of Ryan Poehling and a second- and fourth-round pick. Through 31 games he has already matched his production from a 57-game 2024-25 season, supplanting Travis Konecny as the Flyers’ offensive leader.
The story is that the Canadiens were considering making a similar move a year earlier before selecting Ivan Demidov. As things stand, the 24-year-old Zegras has seven more points on the season than Demidov, who just turned 20 a week ago. There has been a lot of comparing Habs and Flyers prospects in recent years with Philadelphia declining to select Cole Caufield in 2019 in favour of Cam York (currently the second-most-used defenceman on the Flyers’ roster), and, given their ties, the Demidov-Zegras career battle will be one to follow as well.
