Flyers Finish Regular Season With 4-2 Win Over Canadiens

The playoffs are already clinched for the Philadelphia Flyers, but they still had one more game left in the regular season before it was all said and done.

With most of their main guys resting, we got to see a chance for other young players to hit the ice. Two Flyers, Oliver Bonk and Hunter McDonald, made their NHL debuts, and it was a night to never forget for Bonk. He recorded two points in a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens to give the Flyers one more win as they head to the Steel City to face the Penguins in the playoffs.

It was a memorable first period for Flyers rookies, as they took a 2-0 lead into the intermission. Even though the Canadiens outshot the Flyers, they were not able to get past Samuel Ersson, and when the Flyers got chances, they capitalized. Bonk found Matvei Michkov, who ripped a shot up top in which Porter Martone tapped it past Canadiens goalkeeper Jakub Dobes to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. Martone recorded his ninth point in nine games and continues to show how fantastic he has been for the Flyers down the stretch. That assist from Bonk also gave him his first NHL point.

Then came Bonk’s first NHL goal. A pass from McDonald into the middle helped create the snipe, which doubled the Flyers’ lead. McDonald also got his first NHL point on that assist. For the first period, it was three rookies who recorded points, and Michkov, who was fantastic and looked a lot like his rookie self again. 

The Habs were able to pull through in the second period and make it a one-goal game, but the Flyers still kept the lead. The first goal from Montreal came off a tip-in from Brendan Gallagher to cut the lead to one. The Flyers were able to extend their lead back to two with Michkov scoring his 20th goal of the season after a shot from Cates was deflected off him, and a poor attempt to swat the puck away from Dobes let Michkov shoot the puck into a wide-open net. It’s his first time in five months that he’s scored three goals in three games and recorded his 18th point since the winter break.

With just ten seconds left, Ersson let a shot go past him, and after he couldn’t find the puck, Jake Evans located it in and also recorded a somewhat empty net goal to put the Habs within one.

Ersson was fantastic in the second period, saving 10 out of 12 Montreal shots with some incredible saves here and there. He had a puck stuck in his shoulder pad after a shot, and it took a minute or so to shake it out of him.

It was a chippy third period, with lots of players going back and forth with them on the ice. The first incident of this was when Martone got an uppercut from David Reinbacher, and then a whole punch in the face, yet the referee didn’t call a penalty for that. 

Besides that, Ersson still became a brick wall, saving another 5 out of 5 shots with the Flyers being able to extend their lead back to two. Bump scored his fifth of the season off a snapshot pass from guess who, Porter Martone. In just his ninth NHL game, he ended his season with 10 points coming right out of college. And who knows how scary he can be once the playoffs come? Montreal took its timeout with 1:45 left as they went to an empty net with the Canadiens trying to create one more chance, but the Flyers held on for the 4-2 win. This victory matches the Flyers’ points for most in a season since 2011-12 with 98. 

The Flyers had a 3% chance to make the playoffs on March 10. They went 14-4-1 the rest of the way, and are now the hottest team in the NHL heading into the playoffs. The regular season is over, but the Flyers’ run is just beginning. A trip to Pittsburgh awaits them in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Get New Articles Emailed Right To Your Inbox: