By no standards was this a pretty win for the Flyers. But a win is a win, especially in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Flyers scored 2 goals, one in the first and one in the second period. Montreal scored their lone goal in the second, and the Flyers beat the Canadiens 2-1 in Game 1 of the series.

Ivan Provorov scored a power-play goal for the Flyers in the first period.

Thank you Provy, may we Hab another. #AnytimeAnywhere | #MTLvsPHI pic.twitter.com/0poa4KUVRP

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) August 13, 2020

Shea Weber tied the game for the Canadiens at 14:38 in the second.

16 seconds later, Joel Farabee gave the Flyers back their lead and what would eventually become the game-winning goal.

Can’t rattle this team. #AnytimeAnywhere | #MTLvsPHI pic.twitter.com/83wETemnzI

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) August 13, 2020

Hart vs. Price

These two have been quite the topic of conversation leading up to this series. Hart and Price play very with very similar styles and the two have been compared to one another multiple times in the past. This may be in part because Hart idolized Price and modeled his play after him. Both goalies came into this series with incredible stats, in both the regular season and the postseason.

Regular season stats:

Carey Price: 27-25-6 | 2.79 GAA | .909 SV%

Carter Hart: 24-13-3 | 2.42 GAA | .914 SV%

Playoff stats (prior to game 1):

Carey Price: 3-1 | 1.67 GAA | .947 SV%

Carter Hart: 2-0 | 1.00 GAA | .947 SV%

While it appears that Hart has the edge on Price in both the regular season and the playoffs, it’s important to note that he has played fewer games. After tonight, Price’s GAA will be increasing, but Hart’s will stay at exactly 1.00. It’s beginning to look like Hart may be better than his role model after all, but only time and the rest of this series will prove that.

With the Flyers play not being ideal, Hart’s performance was one of the biggest reasons the Flyers were able to get a win. He was the 1st star of the night and it was incredibly well deserved. Hopefully, the title of youngest Flyers’ goalie to win a playoff game is a good birthday present for Hart as he turns 22 on August 13th.

Keeping it rolling.

⭐️: Hart (27 saves)
⭐️⭐️: Provy (1g)
⭐️⭐️⭐️: Petry (L) #AnytimeAnywhere | @Toyota pic.twitter.com/BXIvXPoxhV

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) August 13, 2020

Not the Flyers best work:

While the Flyers dominated play for most of the first, Montreal had completely taken over the game by the second period. In this seemingly never-ending second period, the Flyers appeared to struggle to keep up with this fast Canadiens team.

While a few of the Flyers defensemen had stellar games (Provorov and Myers), others seemed to really struggle in this game. Niskanen and Gostisbehere in particular. Many of the Flyers’ all-stars remained quiet in this game as well. While they certainly did not have bad games, it’s definitely strange to have players like Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier not producing as much as we have become accustomed to.

Both teams were plagued by messy plays, bouncing pucks, and falls. Much of this has to do with the ice surface. By the time the Flyers got to play, the ice had been used in two previous games (one of which that went into 2OT) and was shot by the 8pm game. That said, this happened to work in the Flyers favor on a particularly disastrous looking 2 on 0.

carter hart did this with his mind.#AnytimeAnywhere | #MTLvsPHI pic.twitter.com/ovjAa69sFR

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) August 13, 2020

The Positives:

One thing this Flyers team has been doing incredibly well with this postseason has been answering quickly when the opposition scores. This game was another great example of this. Farabee’s goal just 16 seconds after Weber’s gave the Flyers the lead while also cutting off any post-goal momentum the Canadiens had just gained. The Flyers also managed to regain some of their own momenta by the third period and did not allow Montreal to command the game like they had in the second.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that despite the players in the lineup, the Flyers’ second line always remains unchanged. In tonight’s game, Voracek played on the third line and JVR played with the fourth, I think the decision to leave the second line alone was a smart one, especially with the current chemistry that’s there. While this line did not score, they came as close as physically possible.

GOOD STICK CAREY 🤯#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/0apkZbtYbM

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) August 13, 2020

While this was an unlucky save for Scott Laughton and the Flyers, Price was able to make an incredible save and managed to save Suzuki’s life in the process.

The Flyers lead the series by 1 and can hopefully increase that lead on Friday at 3pm when the two teams meet next.