NHL Thursday night Match Analysis Philadelphia Flyers vs. Montreal Canadiens 4-3
Philadelphia Flyers has finally caught fire and is currently on a roll, winning its seventh straight contest to stay perfect in the month of December, of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season by edging the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3, on Thursday night, December 15, 2011, at the sold-out Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
What the Flyers were expected to do right after the new season kicked off, back in October, they are doing it now, which is better than doing nothing at all.
With one of the best line-ups in the NHL, with new additions such as Jaromir Jagr and Sergei Bobrovsky, over the 2011 NHL offseason, Flyers is beginning to show immense capabilities and determination towards a national championship, aimed at the playoffs, set to begin later on next year.
They now lead the Eastern Conference with 43 points and an impressive 20-7-3 record in the season so far, along with a plus 25 difference. They are also above the 2011 Stanley Cup champions, the Boston Bruins, who are also winning game after game and giving high level competition to the Flyers.
Carey Price, the Montreal Canadiens' goalie, has not had much rest in the season so far as he played his 28th game of the season. Montreal has begun to depend on the 24-year-old too much, which could be a scary situation for the team, if it loses him any time soon.
Maxime Talbot opened the scoring in their Thursday night matchup, a little over midway through the first period, for his ninth of the season.
What Montreal failed to do was capitalise on the numerous power play opportunities awarded to them throughout the contest, which could have easily led them to a simple victory.
Philadelphia players were penalised nine times but they managed to stay strong despite losing a player at various occasions, to kill the added man advantage for Montreal.
David Desharnais levelled the match, 5:02 into the mid period for his fifth but was promptly answered by Harry Zolnierczyk, 46 seconds later.
Harry's goal was answered by Louis Leblanc for his first at the 13:24 mark, with Wayne Simmonds getting his ninth to give Philadelphia the lead again, but Montreal could not stay behind as Erik Cole capitalised for their only power play goal to end the period at 3-3.
Philadelphia was once again without its captain, Chris Pronger, who is out indefinitely at the moment due to concussion related issues, giving Flyers a major setback, but still enough confidence to win.
"Let's separate the two, I think that's important," Philadelphia Flyers' head coach, Peter Laviolette, said. "That was not an easy game tonight; those guys deserve a ton of credit for the way they competed. That should not be taken lightly."
It has also been rumoured that the captain will miss the rest of the season and even the playoffs due to severe post-concussion syndrome that has been confirmed by some sources.
"I think the hard part -- at the end of the day -- to swallow is that he's been shut down for an extended period of time," said Laviolette, who added that he had also just heard the news before the game started. "Where there was hope, right now there's not."
Andrej Meszaros was assisted by Jaromir Jagr at the 8:08 mark in the third to give Philadelphia the game-winner and another valuable two-point lead in the East.
Philadelphia will certainly have to find a way to adjust without its captain and keep on winning as the season progresses. Its next game is at home against Eastern rivals, Boston Bruins, on Saturday.
Montreal on the other hand, has the last at home against New Jersey Devils the same day, before taking off for its six-game road trip.
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