PHILADELPHIA — With four injured players watching from the press box, the Flyers reached the point where they chose to play a defenseman as a forward over any of their forward options and fell, 5-2, to the Montreal Canadiens, the fourth-worst offensive team in the league.
Sean Couturier (back), Cam Atkinson (neck), and Travis Konecny (upper body), all leading forwards, and Zack MacEwen (jaw), an important part of the fourth-line’s identity, sat up top as their team came out flat in their first home game in over a week. Meanwhile, Justin Braun came off the healthy scratch list as an extra defenseman.
Typically, when there’s a seventh defenseman, he rotates in with the other pairings. But whenever Braun was on the ice, there were three defensemen and two forwards.
The lack of offensive players came through on the scoresheet in the 1 next to the Flyers’ logo through the first two periods. However, the extra defense wasn’t apparent, either. While several players stepped up and battled hard, there were lapses at critical points.
After long scoreless minutes, the Canadiens beat Carter Hart with just over two minutes left in the period by taking advantage of a line change. A long defensive shift tired the Flyers, leading to a slow half-change. The Canadiens sped across the blue line for a two-on-one, and David Savard scored.
Shortly after, Michael Pezzetta and Chris Tierney caught the defensemen watching again. Wade Allison lost a battle on the end boards to Pezzetta, who passed it back to Tierney. Two Flyers defensemen watched as he took an open shot. The Canadiens added a third in the second when Nick Suzuki shot it off Ivan Provorov’s stick into the goal while Allison was in the box for instigation.
A changing of the lines brought a bit of life to the otherwise flat Flyers. On the first shift, Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost helped clear the way for Owen Tippett’s snapshot. But the Canadiens responded with Jesse Ylonen tipping in Justin Barron’s shot six minutes later. With over seven minutes left, Josh Anderson put the game away with a wide-open, point-blank shot. Ivan Provorov scored a garbage time goal in the final two minutes.
Everywhere but the net
Contrary to the shot count, the Flyers had their chances. There were numerous breakaways and passes to open players in front of the net. They just couldn’t get their shots on goal.
Some of that was because of the Canadiens’ defense. On Olle Lycksell’s and Joel Farabee’s breakaways, the Canadiens caught up enough to restrict their shooting movement, creating shots too weak to make it to the goal. Others were execution errors. Kevin Hayes passed to Lycksell right in front of the net, but they just barely missed each other. Tippett simply shot way wide on his breakaway. Others yet were missed because they were never taken. Hayes got the puck at center ice with an open look but hesitated to shoot.
Unpleasant kickstarts
A benching in front of family and friends probably isn’t the way Travis Sanheim would have wanted it to happen. But it served its purpose. Tortorella said there was a month where Sanheim showed him who he could be, an aggressive two-way defenseman. Since he was benched, Sanheim has looked more like that player, especially Friday night. He was jumping up on the rough and competing hard in battles.
While Farabee wasn’t a healthy scratch, he dealt with something similar when he was sat for half of that Calgary game. He made the news again for a report that his camp was unhappy with the Flyers’ treatment of him this season. After addressing the report pregame, Farabee also went out and played with speed. He created opportunities for his teammates and helped on defense, getting back on breakaways.
A shortened bench
Two games after Tortorella benched Farabee and scratched Sanheim, he cut down more players’ ice time. Braun, who was playing on the wing, did not play in the third period. But Braun has been a healthy scratch throughout the season, playing in just 38 of the team’s 60 games. Fourth-liners Patrick Brown and Nicolas Deslauriers also saw little ice time in the third, but that is common.
Meanwhile, Hayes also has experienced both being benched and scratched, but that hasn’t happened since before he played in the All-Star game. Going into the third period, he had significant ice time but played just four shifts in the third.
Veteran James van Riemsdyk, whom Tortorella has lauded for his ability to help the young players be better, has averaged over 16 minutes a game. He, too, saw just four shifts in the third.
What’s next
The Flyers head to Newark on Saturday to play the New Jersey Devils for the final time this season.
