Canadiens – Flyers: Habs Look to Draw Even | GAME 4 PREVIEW

August 18, 2020

GAME DAY | Montreal Canadiens vs Philadelphia Flyers: Preview, TV, Start Time, Statistical Match-up, Projected Lines, Starting Goalies, Keys to Victory, Habs Tickets

Game Preview by Sam Gerber

Last game : MTL 0 PHI 1 F It was a defensive shield that the Habs were unable to penetrate. The Flyers took an early lead after a point shot was deflected twice off of a set play. The Flyers were content on holding a 1-0 lead. The Habs tried hard but didn’t use their speed like they could have but they hit a number of posts. Expect a new game plan to counter the Flyers defensive plan.

For a complete game recap: Habs A Post Away | GAME 3 RECAP

Players to watch

Paul Byron
The Habs fastest winger should get some more opportunities as the Habs. Byron is familiar with making the most of his chances.
Jeff Petry
Petry has been quiet since the qualifying matchup, a lot of the Habs offense is generated from the back end and the Habs will need Petry to find his scoring touch again.
Brendan Gallagher
It’s been hinted that Gallagher is playing hurt. Gally is still doing a number of things right and getting a ton of shots on the net. If something is hindering him, it may be the reason nothing has gone in yet for him.

Keys to Victory

Use their speed
The Habs need to use their speed a lot more and try to stretch out the ice a bit more to increase some odd man chances.
Create traffic
The Habs need to take a page from the Flyers and send a player hard to the net off a face off and hope for a deflection.
Win special teams
Power-play struggles for both teams has been evident and it seems that the team that finds success first will have the best chance at winning the series.

Statistical Matchup by All Habs
Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON \| August 18, 3:00 PM ET \| TV: CBC, SN, TVAS, NBCSN
	2019-20 playoff statistics
FLYERS	2019-20 playoff statistics	CANADIENS
10	Points (rank)	8
5-1	Record	4-3
–	Home	–
–	Last 10	–
2.33	GF/G	2.29
1.50	GA/G	1.57
4.0	PP%	13.6
80.0	PK%	87.1
45.23	CF%	52.29

Pre-game quotes
Interim head coach Kirk Muller “Claude and Berg have given me full responsibility as far as making those types of changes once games are starting, so you’ve just got to go on your gut.”
Projected forward lines, defense pairings and goaltenders by All Habs
Forwards
Giroux – Couturier – Voracek Laughton – Hayes – Konecny van Riemsdyk – Grant – Aube-Kubel Raffl – Thompson – Pitlick	Tatar – Danault – Gallagher Domi – Suzuki – Drouin Lehkonen – Kotkaniemi – Byron Belzile – Evans – Armia
Defensemen
Provorov – Niskanen Sanheim – Myers Hagg – Braun	Chiarot – Weber Kulak – Petry Ouellet – Mete
Out of the lineup
Scratched: Andreoff, Frost, Lindblom, Friedman, Welinski, Zamula, Lyon, Ustimenko, Bunnaman, Farabee, Gostisbehere Injured/Unfit to Play:	Scratched: Fleury, Poehling, Hudon, Folin, Juulsen, Olofsson, Primeau, McNiven, Weal, Weise, Romanov (ineligible) Injured/Unfit to Play:
Goalies
Carter Hart	Carey Price

Record: 4-1 GAA: – 1.51 Sv%: – .949 SO: 1 Alternate: Brian Elliot	Record: 4-3-0 GAA: – 1.40 Sv%: – .953 SO: 2 Alternate: Charlie Lindgren

What to Expect by Sam Gerber

After being shut down by the Flyers the Habs will try to utilize their speed as much as they can. Game three wasn’t as chippy as expected but it’s only a matter of time when both teams let their emotions get the best of them and the fighting takes over.