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On Tuesday, the Philadelphia Flyers headed north of the border to play the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. Coming off a 3-2 (4-3) shootout win in Elmont, the Flyers looked to raise their record to 2-0-0. It wasn’t to be.
A slow start by a team that had conducted a morning skate in Voorhees, New Jersey was not completely unexpected. But the team was noticeably flat against a Canadiens team that seemed to be playing with full system implementation.
As a result, Montreal jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals by wingers Cole Caulfield and Florian Xhekaj.
And so the Flyers spent the rest of the game playing catch-up. While their second and third period performance was far more competitive (with goals by Anthony Richard and Owen Tippett), it was not enough as they lost to the Canadiens, 4-2.
With that, here are three things I took away from Tuesday night’s game.
Bump’s Impressive Debut
Left wing Alex Bump’s press conference on Tuesday morning showed a young player not feeling nervous about playing in Montreal for his first preseason game.
“Not really,” Bump said with a smile. “The big moment will be in the real season debut, but yeah, I’ll just do what I can do and control what I can. Don’t try to do too much or I’ll look silly.”
As it turned out, Bump looked anything but silly on the Bell Centre ice.
Despite a flat first period from his club, he was a bright spot with a pair of good shifts to start, as he was physical on the first one, and got a good scoring chance cutting to the net on the second one.
Consequently, Tocchet moved Bump up to the top line with Sean Couturier and Bobby Brink in the second period. He continued to be a threat throughout the game.
Bump got a glorious chance after slipping past the Canadiens’ defense and received a long pass from Couturier in stride. He appeared to beat goalie Kaapo Kahkonen with a strong forehand to backhand move, but the goalie managed to keep it out.
Later in the period, Bump generated another chance in front with a feed from Brink. His ability to spin off the wall on the play showed what gives him an edge for a roster spot.
a strong preseason debut for the Western Michigan product.
Ersson’s Short Outing
Tocchet said that goalie Samuel Ersson would handle the full game, but he ended up playing only played 20 minutes.
Per Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philly, the Flyers head coach apparently misspoke during his pregame press conference per a source and that only one period was planned.
Considering how flat the Flyers looked in the first period, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the pull had been a “wake-up” call for a line-up that started the game off poorly.
Caufield scored on the Hab’s first shot only 53 seconds into the game. A Sean Couturier turnover in the offensive led to an odd man rush led by Nick Suzuki. Caufield got a pass from defenseman Lane Hutson and quickly put it past the Flyers goalie.
While Ersson wasn’t at fault for the first goal, Montreal’s second of the period was one he would want back.
Winger Florian Xhekaj scored on an off balance fluttering shot from a feed by Tyler Thorpe after the latter took a Nic Deslaurier hit.
Aleksei Kolosov came in to play the final two periods of the game. He looked as solid as he did on Monday night in Long Island, weathering the Canadiens’ chances and kept the Flyers in the game.
We’ll see if Ersson gets a longer leash on Thursday in Hershey versus the Washington Capitals.
Flyers New Look Power-Play Has Potential
The Flyers new power-play philosophy under Tocchet was on full display during their four attempts in this game. The first unit of Couturier, Owen Tippett, Christian Dvorak, Brink, and Travis Sanheim looked good in executing it.
After getting the first power-play of the game off a holding call on Montreal’s William Carrier, the Canadiens were tagged for too many men on the ice. This gave Philadelphia a five on three advantage for 1:19 of the second period.
A few good chances with several shots on goal, including a dangerous on by defensive Travis Sanheim. But they were unable to score and when it got to 5 on 4, Flyers didn’t generate much.
The first unit looked far better later in the period to cut the Canadien’s lead to one goal. Crisp puck movement from Dvorak and Sanheim led to a nice one timer goal by Owen Tippett near the right post.
What’s Next?
The Flyers will travel to Hershey, Pennsylvania on Thursday to take on the Washington Capitals, before their preseason home opener on Saturday at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.
