The busy schedule and the many trips may have caught up with the Canadian on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
Morgan Frost scored his second goal of the game late in the third period and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Montreal Hockey Club 3-2.
Officially eliminated from the race for the playoffs, the Canadian saw his short series of victories be slowed down to two. The Habs played their third game in four nights, after wins against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday in Montreal and the Sabers on Monday in Buffalo.
“Our execution wasn’t great,” admitted head coach Martin St-Louis. The group seemed a little tired. It’s normal when you play a third game in four nights and two in two with a trip. »
“You have to give credit to the Flyers, who are not easy to play against. They keep it simple, block a lot of shots and apply good forechecking, the coach added. But we left a lot of things on the ice due to our lack of execution. »
Two other players were entitled to an audition with the Canadian.
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.
Either way, St. Louis was rather reserved in his comments, essentially saying that the two had played good games.
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.
Primeau was traded to the Rocket after the game.
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 streak 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.
Locker Room Echoes
Cayden Primeau was happy with his performance, despite the end result.
” I felt good. My role is to give the team a chance to win, to keep them in the game so that they have a chance at the end, as was the case today. »
Sean Farrell had to pinch himself to believe he had played his first NHL game.
“It’s really special. It’s a dream come true for me to play in the NHL. It was special to be surrounded by all these guys today and to put on the uniform to play with them. »
Jonathan Drouin admitted that the match was not particularly entertaining.
“It was dead in the building at the start and we had to create our own energy tonight. We also know the way they (the Flyers) play. It’s simple game. They have one more shot than us who returned. You have to live with that. »