(Montreal) It’s never too late to do well and that’s what the Montreal Canadiens reminded us Thursday evening at the Bell Center.
Nick Suzuki reached the 30-goal mark this season in addition to collecting an assist, Cayden Primeau made 29 saves and the Habs won a third game in a row for the first time in the campaign thanks to a 4- 1 against the Philadelphia Flyers.
It was the seventh time this season that the Canadian had the opportunity to win a third game in a row and he finally achieved it.
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For his part, Suzuki became the first Canadian player to reach the 30-goal plateau in a season since Brendan Gallagher in 2018-19.
Jesse Ylönen, Joel Armia and Jake Evans, the last two in an empty net, also scored for the Canadian (28-32-12). Mike Matheson had three assists.
Primeau was deprived of a third straight shutout at home when he was beaten by Owen Tippett with 1:01 left in the game. His streak without allowing a goal at the Bell Center ended after 178:43 of play.
Samuel Ersson stopped 13 shots in front of the Flyers net (36-28-10).
The Canadian will host the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday evening at the Bell Centre.
Primeau guards the fort
The first period was not very lively, but the Canadian found a way to take control by scoring twice.
Suzuki first opened the scoring at 12:58, on the power play. He took advantage of a delivery from Juraj Slafkovsky at the mouth of the net and beat Ersson.
Ylönen came back with 3:14 left in the period. He took advantage of a return after a throw from Jayden Struble.
The 24-year-old Finn thus ended a drought of 43 games without scoring.
Slafkovsky had a great chance to score early in the second period. He beat Scott Laughton and drove to the net. Ersson, however, made the save.
Primeau finally had to stand out in the second half of the second period. He made a good save when Travis Konecny deflected a Travis Sanheim shot. He was also alert when Bobby Brink tried to take advantage of a throw return.
The 24-year-old American goaltender also frustrated Joel Farabee with the tip of his glove during a two-on-one attack against one of the Flyers.
Struble got the best chance of the middle period for the Canadian, during the last minute of play. The defender cut into the slot and shot backhanded. However, the puck reached the post.
The Flyers finally pushed a puck behind the goal line 1:43 into the third period. However, the goal was canceled after video review because Garnet Hathaway had pushed the puck with her skate.
History repeated itself at 5:48. Morgan Frost surprised Primeau with a putback from the corner of the ice. However, the Canadian’s head coach, Martin St-Louis, successfully contested the goal since the restarts showed that there had been offside at the entrance to the zone.
The Flyers once again came close to scoring during a power play. This time, Konecny hit the post after receiving a cross pass.
The Canadian was also denied a goal with 9:11 to go. Suzuki beat Ersson on a return, but he hit the puck in flight higher than the allowed height.
Primeau put the finishing touches on the result with a fine save against Laughton following a crossfield pass from Konecny with about six minutes remaining.
He also received a helping hand from David Savard a little later, when the defender prevented Farabee from shooting into a gaping cage.
Armia delivered the final blow by scoring into an empty net with 2:55 left on the clock.
reference: www.lapresse.ca