In a game that featured several new faces, including a few NHL debuts, the Philadelphia Flyers ended the regular season on a high note, winning their third straight contest and keeping the Montréal Canadiens from having a chance at home-ice in the first round of the playoffs.
Porter Martone opened the scoring and added an assist, Matvei Michkov scored his 20th goal and added 2 assists, Oliver Bonk scored his first career goal and added an assist, and Alex Bump scored a late insurance marker.
Samuel Ersson made 27 saves en route to his 14th win of the season, whereas Jakub Dobeš was unable to get to the 30-win mark in his rookie year, although he made 21 saves on the night.
FIRST PERIOD
With a delayed penalty on the way for Montréal, the Philadelphia Flyers youngsters worked their magic to get the scoring started at the 8:08 mark. Porter Martone, positioned in front of Jakub Dobeš, deflected a point shot from Matvei Michkov, for his 4th goal of the season. Oliver Bonk also recorded his first career NHL point as the secondary assist.
After a crunching body check by Hunter McDonald on Jake Evans to keep the puck alive, Bonk wired a hard snap shot from the point past a heavily screened Dobeš to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead with 5:18 remaining in the period. Michkov earned the primary helper for his second point of the period as well.
The period came to a close with the Flyers up 2-0 on the scoreboard with the Canadiens holding the edge in shots at 12-8.
SECOND PERIOD
6:50 into the middle frame, Brendan Gallagher finished in tight to get the Canadiens within 1. The long-time veteran has been a healthy scratch recently, but he made the most of his opportunity for his 7th of the season, after finishing off a nice passing play set up by Alexandre Texier and Kaiden Guhle.
Michkov, who had been extremely noticeable all game, finally got one past Dobeš with 6:08 to play. Dobeš poked away a pass attempt to Noah Cates in front of the net, however it went off the skates of a Canadiens defender and right to Michkov, who fired it into the empty cage for his 20th of the season.
With the period winding down, the Canadiens cut the deficit back to 1 after Evans dove in for a loose puck. Ersson made the initial save on the slap-shot, but the puck squeaked through the five-hole, which allowed Evans to race in and tap it home.
The game opened up a little more as the period went on – both teams fired 12 shots on goal – as the Canadiens entered the intermission down 1 needing at least a point to keep their hopes alive of claiming home-ice advantage in the first round.
THIRD PERIOD
During a 4-on-4 with 8 minutes to play, the Flyers added an insurance marker after Alex Bump wired a shot top shelf from the slot past Dobeš for his 5th of the season. Juraj Slafkovský gave up the puck right to Martone in the middle of the ice, before the Michigan State product tapped it over to Bump for the goal.
With the net empty for nearly 3 minutes, the Canadiens were unable to get back on the board, let alone get more than a few shots through traffic, as the Flyers ended their regular season on a 3-game win streak.
UP NEXT
The Flyers head to the Stanley Cup Playoffs to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. Game 1 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh does not yet have a time or date announced.
