Canadiens vs Flyers: Power Play Leads Way To Victory

The Montreal Canadiens scored three power play goals to open a 3-0 on their way to a 6-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre.

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If you had watched the first and third periods, you wouldn’t think this was as close of a game as it was for parts of the second and third periods.

After Montreal came out to a 3-0 lead on three power play goals (their first three goal game with the man advantage since 2012), Philadelphia scored to make it 3-1 and then, after a Tomas Plekanec goal was disallowed, closed the gap to within one.

The Canadiens started off the third period strong with P.A. Parenteau scoring to make the score 4-2 with his second of the night. That ended up being the game winner with Dale Weise scoring twice in the third period.

It was Weise’s first career multi-goal game and he has three goals and an assist in his last two games.

Once again, the possession stats weren’t positive for Montreal, but a lot of that was because they opened up a 3-0 lead on power plays, and then sat back. It isn’t an inspiring trend for the Canadiens, but somehow it’s all working out.

Usually this would be a time of dread, and perhaps it’s coming, but the point remains that this roster is much too talented to struggle with their possession. At least they should be.

Sergei Gonchar had two assists and reached 800 points tonight. He seems to be a calming influence when he has the puck. After playing over 20 minutes against Boston, he was just over 15 tonight. With seven defencemen dressed, that’s a pretty good amount.

The real story in this one is the power play. The new look has people looking for shooting positions when they don’t have the puck which sets up one timers. The first goal was set up from a Max Pacioretty shot from the slot and the third was one of the prettiest goals they have had all year.

It was a perfect tic-tac-toe play from Tomas Plekanec to Alex Galchenyuk to P.K. Subban for his fourth of the year.

Tomorrow, the Canadiens head to Detroit where Dustin Tokarski will get the start against the Red Wings. They will be looking for their sixth straight win and to extend their league-best 27 points.

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