Sabres - The Buffalo News
National Hockey League
Philadelphia 3, Montreal 2
When: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, August 21, 2020
Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Ontario
Referees: Gord Dwyer, Jean Hebert
Linesmen: Steve Barton, Devin Berg
Attendance: N/A

Kevin Hayes scored a goal and added an assist to lift the Philadelphia Flyers past the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Friday in Toronto, sealing their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series in six games.

Ivan Provorov and Michael Raffl added one goal apiece as the Flyers won a playoff series for the first time since 2012. The top-seeded Flyers will battle the sixth-seeded New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference semifinals, which, like the quarterfinals, will be best-of-seven.

Flyers goaltender Carter Hart, who recorded two shutouts in this series, made 31 saves Friday.

Nick Suzuki scored both goals for the eighth-seeded Canadiens.

Joel Arnia and Jonathan Drouin contributed two assists each for Montreal.

Canadiens goaltender Carey Price stopped 14 of 17 shots.

The Flyers jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 28 seconds into the first period when Provorov ripped a wrist shot through traffic. The puck appeared to deflect off Montreal's Shea Weber and into the net.

Following a power play, the Flyers stayed aggressive and Hayes scored his first goal of the series when he sent the puck through Price's pads for a 2-0 lead at 5:23 of the first.

Suzuki cut the deficit to 2-1 when he corralled a rebound in front and tapped the puck through Hart to score on the power play at 10:03 of the opening period.

The Flyers regained their two-goal advantage when Jakub Voracek sent a crisp pass to Travis Sanheim, who delivered a shot off Raffl at 4:26 of the second.

But Montreal struck quickly at 6:05 as Suzuki registered his second goal to close the gap to 3-2.

The Canadiens nearly tied the game when Tomas Tatar fired a shot from point-blank range off Hart and into the seats at 13:11 in the third.

Montreal pulled Price for an extra skater with 1:50 left but couldn't capitalize despite several good scoring opportunities in the final 30 seconds.

Philadelphia's Matt Niskanen was suspended for the Friday game after cross-checking Brendan Gallagher in Game 5. Gallagher sustained a broken jaw and underwent surgery.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Philadelphia   Montreal
Kevin Hayes 2 Points Nick Suzuki 2
Kevin Hayes 1 Goals Nick Suzuki 2
Kevin Hayes 1 Assists Joel Armia 2
N/A Power Play Goals Nick Suzuki 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Carter Hart .939 Save Percentage Carey Price .824
Carter Hart 31 Saves Carey Price 14
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Philadelphia 17 3 0-4 1-2 4 29
Montreal 33 2 1-2 4-4 8 30
Upcoming Games
  • Philadelphia will play their next game at home against NY Islanders. The Flyers have a W/L % of .610 after a win and .571 after a loss.