I love my beat colleagues. Bad companions, as Plume sang, who are hilarious. They have nothing to envy of Ding and Dong or Denis Drolet. Except that when the highlight of the evening consists of laughing at their jokes in the Jacques-Beauchamp lounge during the first intermission, that means that the match is dead boring. And this has happened a lot in recent years.
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We seemed to be heading towards another evening of the same type after the first 20 minutes of the match between the Flyers and the Canadiens. A dull first period during which the crowd, sparser than usual inside the Bell Centre, did not have much to eat.
Whatever Martin St-Louis thinks, the atmosphere was much closer to that of a funeral than that of a celebration of life.
In addition, the boys told Christie a good anecdote about Philadelphia.
We were far from suspecting that the Canadian would win 9 to 3. Then Juraj Slafkovsky decided to take matters into his own hands.
Photo Martin Chevalier
Already the author of a goal, he scored a second, then a third. The Slovak took advantage of the liveliness of his linemates as well as that of Mike Matheson and David Savard to record the first hat trick of his career.
It’s been a while since Canadiens fans had the opportunity to waste $50 throwing their caps on the ice. It’s been 369 days, to be exact.
Joel Armia, on April 6, 2023, was the last to lift the Montreal amphitheater thanks to a hat-trick. It was also the Canadian’s last hat trick, period.
Suzuki approaches 80
By scoring his second goal of the match, Slafkovsky ignited a second period which, normally, is the one that kills the Canadian. The Habs flashed the red light on five occasions during the middle period.
Five goals in one period. Montrealers have not achieved this since November 27, 2021, in Pittsburgh.
Along the way, Slafkovsky now has six goals and 11 assists in his last 15 games.
It doesn’t work any worse, his business.
Accomplice of his playing partner’s second goal, Nick Suzuki is only five points away from the 80 mark. He has four games left to become the Canadian’s second player in 27 years, the other being Alex Kovalev (84 points in 2007-2008), to achieve this.
With 14 points in his last 13 games, the captain seems to be determined to do so.
The Flyers gave up
If you were wondering what a team that takes the lead looks like, you had an example of that yesterday.
The Flyers, who are in the process of getting themselves out of playoff contention, showed up in Montreal with a seven-game winless streak (0-5-2).
And as often happens with a team whose heart cord trails not far from the septic tank, it only takes a slump of a few moments to raise the white flag.
John Tortorella may have called a timeout and changed goalkeepers, but the effect was as inconclusive as that of an electric shock on a little doll.
Three goals in just under two minutes, and it was “good evening visit!” »
When Josh Anderson hits the target for the first time in 17 games, Christian Dvorak manages to do so twice while playing a first match in 2024 and Brendan Gallagher also scores a double, that means things are going badly.
For the Canadian’s opponent, we agree.