The Habs Lose To The Opportunistic Flyers

Aside from the goals against, the Habs struggled to make the night difficult for Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar, who often had pucks shot right into his body, not facing many challenges throughout the game. Aside from the one goal that he allowed, the majority of the shots he stopped didn’t require much movement from the Flyers’ netminder. If the Habs want to score goals, they need to make the opposing goaltender move, which wasn’t the case on Tuesday night.

At the same time, the Flyers’ defence wasn’t allowing for many great chances to come through and didn’t allow many odd-man rushes that were high-danger chances. Therefore, it was likely a mix of the Habs not challenging Vladar enough and the Flyers not allowing any great danger chances to develop. Meanwhile, the Flyers were challenging Fowler in a way other than shots on goal.

Fowler had his official welcome to the NHL moment on the Flyers’ 3rd goal on Tuesday night, when he left the puck to be taken by one of his defensemen behind the net but instead got tricked by a Flyers player who must’ve told him to leave it before he skated back into his net. The Flyers got the puck and were able to beat a sprawling Fowler, who couldn’t get back to his crease on time.

The game actually started off well for the Canadiens, as they were able to open the scoring with 1 minute left in the first period when Alexandre Texier sniped a puck from the slot past Vladar to give the Habs a 1-0 lead. With that goal, Texier extended his point streak to 4 games, which includes goals in back-to-back matchups.

Unfortunately, the Habs’ lead wouldn’t last long, as just 39 seconds later the Flyers would tie the game up. The play started when Nick Suzuki made a bad pass in the offensive zone, which led to the Flyers coming down the ice before a defensive breakdown allowed forward Carl Grundstrom to sneak into the slot uncovered. This is when Owen Tippett slid the puck over to him for the game-tying goal.

In the 2nd period, it was a failed deke by Ivan Demidov in the offensive zone that led to defenseman Emil Andrae springing Travis Konecny and Trevor Zegras on a 2-on-1 rush against Lane Hutson. On that play, Hutson overcommitted to Konecny as he passed it up to Zegras, who would put the puck past Fowler by going 5-hole to give the Flyers their first lead of the game.

The Canadiens weren’t able to generate any offence in the 2nd period, and they would soon find themselves down 2 goals by allowing a goal in the final minute of the frame. This was the goal that Fowler made his blunder on that could have easily been the difference maker and storyline of the whole game if the Habs were able to produce any offence outside Texier’s goal.

However, the Habs weren’t able to generate anything really dangerous in the 3rd period, and therefore, Fowler’s mistake, while big, wouldn’t be the defining moment of the entire game. Instead, it will serve as a lesson to the rookie goaltender to be more vigilant of what is going on behind him. The two players who would connect on the goal were Matvei Michkov, who took the puck from behind the net and passed it in front to Bobby Brink, who put the puck in the wide-open cage to double the Flyers’ lead.

The 3rd period was much better for the Habs than the previous frame, but they couldn’t solve Vladar, who made a few glove saves on the chances that got on net. In reality, the Canadiens’ best chances on the night were the ones that would, unfortunately, miss the net as a result of being shot wide or over the goal. It’s unfortunate, but the Habs have been missing the net too often this season, and it has continued to bite them back in games like this, where it was possible that more offence could have been created.

With the goaltender pulled, Travis Konecny would put the game to bed by putting the puck in the empty net and giving the Flyers the 4-1 victory. The Habs attempted to make a late push, but they just couldn’t challenge Vladar, and as a result, they fell to 8-9-1 on home ice.

Playing at the Bell Centre has not been easy for the Habs this season as they continue their struggles in front of their fans. Meanwhile, they have been a dominant force on the road. Hopefully their woes at home don’t last much longer, as the Bell Centre is the loudest, most passionate place in the NHL when things go well, but it can also be very sombre on nights like Tuesday when the opposing team drags the life out of the building.

Aside from his terrible blunder, Fowler wasn’t terrible, but it’s clear he still needs some seasoning to his game before he is ready to be a full-time NHL goaltender. It will be interesting to see if he goes back to Laval after Samuel Montembeault’s AHL conditioning stint or if he continues to stick around longer. Either way, the Canadiens need to figure out which situation is best for the 21-year-old’s development.

The Canadiens will be looking to bounce back on Thursday in front of their fans against the Chicago Blackhawks. They will need to execute their game plan better and find ways to exploit their opponent rather than let them take advantage of every little mistake on Tuesday. The Blackhawks may be without Connor Bedard on Thursday, but they can still surprise teams if given the chance.