Here are five things you should know about the Canadiens-Philadelphia Flyers game at the Bell Centre on Saturday (3 p.m., Sportsnet, RDS, TSN 690 Radio) .
The matchup: This is the second of three meetings between these teams and the Flyers were 3-2 overtime winners at home on Nov 7. The Canadiens are on a six-game winless streak (0-4-2) and have given up a franchise-record 20 goals over the past three games. The Flyers have a three-game winning streak after beating Detroit 6-1 at home Friday afternoon. Philadelphia has have moved into one of the wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference with 33 points, six more than Montreal.
Price isn’t right: The Canadiens’ defence has been terrible during the losing streak and that includes Carey Price, who gave up 16 of those goals in the last three games. With another game looming in Boston on Sunday, coach Claude Julien said he’ll use Keith Kinkaid in one of the back-to-back games. The choice comes down to using Price against the Flyers or saving him for what figures to be a tougher test in Beantown.
Turnaround for KK: One of the few bright spots in Thursday’s 6-4 loss to the Devils was the offensive contribution of the team’s Finnish cohort. Artturi Lehkonen, Joel Armia and Jesperi Kotkaniemi each scored a goal, but Kotkaniemi’s performance might have been the most significant. The 19-year-old has struggled in his second NHL season and the goal Thursday ended a 14-game goal drought for Kotkaniemi, who hadn’t scored since Oct. 9. Kotkaniemi also added an assist on Armia’s goal and won five of his seven faceoffs. When asked if it was his best game of the season, he replied: “No, because we lost.”
Familiar faces return: A couple of guys who started their NHL coaching careers in Montreal will be behind the Flyers’ bench. Alain Vigneault, who took the Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks to the Stanley Cup final, was hired to coach the Flyers in June. His top assistant is Michel Therrien, who replaced Vigneault as the head coach of the Canadiens in 2000. Vigneault’s staff also includes Mike Yeo, the former head coach of the Minnesota Wild.
Konecny leads the way: Travis Konecny, who was the Flyers’ first-round draft choice in 2015, is emerging as the team’s offensive leader. After racking up back-to-back 24-goal seasons, Konecny is the Flyers’ top scorer with 24 points, including eight goals. Veteran Sean Couturier, who scored the overtime winner in the first game against Montreal, is next with 20 points after scoring a goal and adding an assist Friday. Philadelphia’s top goal scorer is Oskar Lindblom, who has 10. Jakub Voracek had three assists against Detroit, while offensive defenceman Shayne Gostisbehere, who is off to the slowest start of his career, scored his second goal of the season.
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