Some believe the Montreal Canadiens have one of the easiest schedules match-up-wise until the end of the season, but I disagree. For some reason, Martin St. Louis’s men tend to play down to the opposition. They did it in the first period of the game against the Boston Bruins, and Saturday night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers started similarly.

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Keeping It Simple

The first frame wasn’t a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but Juraj Slafkovsky stood out for all the wrong reasons. The big Slovak is at his best when he keeps it simple, but during the first 20 minutes, he repeatedly tried cross-ice passes that could have been costly. The former first overall pick is a good player, but he doesn’t have Lane Hutson’s deceptive game. It seems like he needs to be reminded of that at times.

His game should concentrate on using his big frame to apply relentless forecheck with big, punishing hits, a bit like Josh Anderson typically does. On Saturday night, Anderson was absent for family reasons (his wife must have gone into labor), and his absence was felt, especially with Slafkovsky not sticking to the best kind of game for him. To make matters worse, he also took a penalty that could have been costly late in the game.

He wasn’t the only one making things hard for himself; the team played unstructured hockey, and the Canadiens struggled to get out of their zone throughout the first stanza, even committing 15 giveaways.

Where Was The Urgency?

After 40 minutes of play at the Bell Center, the building and the players were flat. The Flyers only took five shots on goal in the second frame; they looked like they were running on an empty tank, even though they just had four days off. Guess they ran out of the "our coach just got fired juice". The Canadiens dominated puck possession and took 11 shots on goal, but their play had no urgency. Early on, they looked like they were “sleep-skating.”

However, Samuel Ersson was on his game for the visitors and kept them in the lead, making a couple of big saves. Given the high stakes, it was surprising that Montreal needed that much time to get into gear.

The Leadership

Less than a minute and 25 seconds into the final frame, Brendan Gallagher scored the game-tying goal and set the Bell Centre alight. The crowd was aching for something to cheer, and the alternate captain gave it to them. With Anderson missing, he stepped into a more significant physical role, landing five of the Canadiens’ 40 hits; only Jake Evans (six) and Michael Pezzetta (eight) had more.

Speaking about Gallagher in his post-game presser, St-Louis said:

Of course, Gally, his 20th goal, I’m proud of him and I’m happy.

Once that goal was scored, the Canadiens seemed to have an extra spring ...