(Philadelphia) Two other players were entitled to an audition with the Canadian, who was unable to extend his series of successes.
Morgan Frost scored his second goal of the game late in the third period as the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Montreal Hockey Club 3-2 on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Officially eliminated from the race for the playoffs, the Canadian saw his short series of victories be slowed down to two.
Goaltender Cayden Primeau was making his first NHL start since February 10, 2022. He had had a good time with the Laval Rocket for a few weeks, being employed profusely since veteran Kevin Poulin was on the sidelines.
Primeau did well in general and had little to be ashamed of on the two goals he allowed.
For his part, forward Sean Farrell was playing his first NHL game with the Canadiens. He signed his first professional contract on Sunday, following Harvard’s elimination from the NCAA Tournament.
Farrell was quiet on offense but showed good game sense in just over 13 minutes on the ice.
Brendan Gallagher scored in a third game in a row and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard also hit the target late in the game for the Canadian (30-39-6). Primeau stopped 24 shots.
Owen Tippett added an empty-net goal for the Flyers (29-32-12), who collected at least one point in a sixth straight game (5-0-1). Felix Sandstrom made 27 saves and won his second game in 20 NHL career outings.
Farrell took the place of Kirby Dach in the formation of the Canadian. Dach suffered an upper body injury Monday against the Buffalo Sabers.
The Canadiens will play their next game on Thursday, when the Florida Panthers are visitors at the Bell Centre.
Not a Picasso
Primeau signaled himself early in the game, frustrating Kevin Hayes, who had escaped.
At the other end of the rink, Gallagher hit the crossbar on a two-on-two attack with Jake Evans.
The show was much more entertaining in the second period.
The Flyers opened the scoring at 3:41, just two seconds after a power play ended in their favour. Frost took advantage of a nice cross pass from Hayes to surprise Primeau on the short side.
Johnathan Kovacevic came to Primeau’s rescue a few minutes later, sweeping a puck that had escaped the Habs goalie out of harm’s way.
Primeau shone again a little later, stopping Wade Allison on a breakaway.
The Canadian tied the game 1-1 at 9:39 of the second period. Gallagher took advantage of a turnover in the Flyers’ zone to surprise Sandstrom on the mitt side with a shot from the slot.
Tony DeAngelo came close to giving the Flyers the lead late in the second period, on a power play. His powerful shot, however, hit the crossbar before ending up in the protective net.
The third period was less exciting, despite a sequence of 9: 59 without stopping play.
Frost broke the deadlock on a two-on-one attack, beating Primeau on the mitt side with 2:15 to go.
Tippett added an empty-net insurance goal that proved crucial, as Harvey-Pinard scored for the Canadian with 23 seconds left on the clock.
However, the Canadian ran out of time to make the comeback.