NHL Preview from The Sports Network
Saturday, February 16th
(All times Eastern)
Philadelphia Flyers (6-8-1) at Montreal Canadiens (8-4-1), 7 p.m.
(Sports Network) - A trip to sunny Florida seemed to be just what the Montreal
Canadiens needed.
The Habs take aim at a third straight victory on Saturday evening when they
play host to the Philadelphia Flyers, who enter the backstretch of a six-game
road trip.
The Canadiens dropped three straight games from Feb. 6-9, a losing streak that
was capped with a 6-0 setback at home to the rival Toronto Maple Leafs.
Montreal then traveled south for matchups with the Tampa Bay Lightning and
Florida Panthers, winning a pair of one-goal games to get on track.
Two days after beating the Lightning 4-3 in a shootout, the Canadiens escaped
Sunrise with a 1-0 overtime triumph against the Panthers on Thursday. Carey
Price made 26 saves for his 17th career shutout and Rene Bourque had the
winner 2:10 into the extra frame.
"The guys played very well in front of me," Price said. "We limited their
scoring chances all game and they only got a couple of really quality chances
all game."
Bourque, meanwhile, netted his fourth goal of the season off a feed from Alex
Galchenyuk, who had his centering attempt deflected into the air off a Florida
defenseman. Bourque was there to bat the puck out of midair and into the net,
giving the Canadiens some momentum ahead of playing four of their next five at
home.
"(Galchenyuk) was trying to come to me a few times and it finally got across,"
Bourque said of the final play. "I don't knot if I hit it out of the air or I
got my stick on the ice. I was just trying to whack it somewhere."
While the Canadiens are returning to the friendly Bell Centre, the Flyers will
play the fourth contest of their road trip and sit at just 1-2-0 on the swing
so far.
Philadelphia was in action on Friday night in New Jersey, were it has dealt a
5-3 setback by the Devils despite holding a two-goal edge following the first
period.
Wayne Simmonds, Mike Knuble and Matt Read all scored in the opening frame, but
the Flyers were shut down the rest of the way. Ilya Bryzgalov faced 18 shots
and allowed four goals as Philadelphia fell to 2-7-0 overall on the road this
season.
"When you got a 3-1 lead, you got to find a way to get it done," said
Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux, who notched two assists in his 300th
career game.
The Flyers may be forced to face the Habs on Saturday without veteran
defenseman Kimmo Timonen, who left the Devils game with a lower body injury
and did not return.
Though the Flyers have won six of their past seven versus the Canadiens, the
clubs split their two meetings in Montreal last season.
02/16 10:29:30 ET

|