{"id":605036,"date":"2026-04-15T05:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T05:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/605036\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T05:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T05:39:10","slug":"hidden-game-canadiens-come-out-flat-at-philly-in-regular-season-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/605036\/","title":{"rendered":"Hidden Game: Canadiens come out flat at Philly in regular season finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well now \u2026<\/p>\n

The Canadiens\u2019 regular season has ended much like it began more than six months earlier: with a less-than-flattering loss on the road.<\/p>\n

Montreal dropped a 5-2 decision to Toronto \u2014 one of the few highlights to the Maple Leafs\u2019 non-playoff season \u2014\u00a0on Oct. 8. And on Tuesday night it might have been worse.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens were defeated 4-2 by a Lehigh Valley AHL squad that was masquerading as the Philadelphia Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Flyers, who clinched their first playoff berth since 2020 24 hours earlier, not only were playing their second game in as many nights, but also made nine regulars healthy scratches. That included their top three scorers, top four defencemen and starting goalie.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Canadiens, meanwhile, desperately needed a victory. Already knowing they\u2019ll face Tampa Bay in the opening round of the playoffs<\/a>, Montreal\u2019s slim hope of securing home-ice advantage was contingent on a win.<\/p>\n

With the Lightning owning the tiebreaker and completing its season Wednesday night at home against the dreadful New York Rangers, the Canadiens faced daunting odds. In reality, Montreal likely squandered its hope of finishing ahead of Tampa Bay on Saturday, when it lost at home to Columbus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two losses in three games heading into the playoffs. A harbinger of the Canadiens\u2019 upcoming fate or needless fodder? Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

Our random thought of the night: Since the Flyers dressed half of their NHL roster, we\u2019re wondering whether the suckers who purchased tickets received a 50 per cent discount? Rhetorical question.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes<\/a> failed in his quest to win a 30th game as a rookie. And Cole Caufield<\/a> won\u2019t capture the Rocket Richard trophy. He completed the season with 51 goals. Colorado\u2019s Nathan MacKinnon, who still has one game remaining \u2014\u00a0unless he\u2019s made a healthy scratch \u2014\u00a0has 52 goals. Lane Hutson failed to get his 67th assist, which would have broken Larry Robinson\u2019s single-season record<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yeah, but: Seven of MacKinnon\u2019s goals were scored into an empty net. None of Caufield\u2019s were. Maybe they could share the trophy? Seems only fair.<\/p>\n

News you need (Part I): Oliver Kapanen was playing his 100th NHL game. The Canadiens had won six straight on the road.<\/p>\n

News you need (Part II): This game was played in a tidy two hours, 28 minutes. If only they all went this quickly.<\/p>\n

A period for the ages: Caufield produced five of the Canadiens\u2019 opening six shots in the first period. He alone accounted for 10 of Montreal\u2019s 29 shots at Samuel Ersson, starting for the first time since April 2.<\/p>\n

\"JacobJacob Gaucher #78 of the Philadelphia Flyers battles with Jakub Dobes #75 of the Montreal Canadiens in the second period at Xfinity Mobile Arena on April 14, 2026 in Philadelphia. Mitchell Leff \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Sieve of the night: Let\u2019s not take anything away from Dobes\u2019s season. But on this night \u2026 meh. He was beaten on the third and sixth shots he faced in the first period. The opening goal, by Porter Mortone, beat Dobes between the legs.<\/p>\n

Hit of the night: Hunter McDonald, one of five players recalled from Lehigh Valley, put his shoulder into Jake Evans. Seconds later, the Flyers had a two-goal lead. There likely was a correlation between the two events.<\/p>\n

News you need (Part III): The Canadiens had one shot through six minutes to begin the second period.<\/p>\n

Shots are overrated: Montreal scored on its second shot of the period. Brendan Gallagher<\/a>, playing after being a healthy scratch the last four games, scored for the first time since Feb. 4.<\/p>\n

Pass of the night: Kaiden Guhle to Gallagher.<\/p>\n

\"BrendanCanadiens\u2019 Brendan Gallagher reacts after scoring a goal against the Philadelphia Flyers in the second period at Xfinity Mobile Arena on April 14, 2026 in Philadelphia. Mitchell Leff \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Food for thought: Was this possibly Gallagher\u2019s final goal in a Montreal uniform?<\/p>\n

How not to play the position (Part I): Dobes plays goaltender in a rather unorthodox, but exciting, style,\u00a0frequently leaving his net to play the puck. We\u2019ve predicted he\u2019ll eventually score a goal into an empty net, but he\u2019s not always great handling the puck. His bad clearing attempt went off Evans and directly to Matvei Michkov on Philadelphia\u2019s third goal.<\/p>\n

Late goals kill: Evans brought the Canadiens to within one with 11 seconds remaining in the second period. It was Evans\u2019s first goal in 12 games.<\/p>\n

Until they don\u2019t: It was the Canadiens\u2019 final goal of the regular season.<\/p>\n

Best goal while falling to the ice: Evans.<\/p>\n

How not to play the position (Part II): A Juraj Slafkovsky turnover led to the Flyers\u2019 fourth goal. Slafkovsky, as is his custom, had one hand on his stick. One day he might learn.<\/p>\n

Next time, decline the penalty: The Canadiens went 0-for-3 on the power play.<\/p>\n

Quick stats: Joe Veleno and Arber Xhekaj each had five hits. Veleno played only 10:16. Zachary Bolduc had four hits. Slafkovsky had three giveaways and is the early clubhouse leader, at minus-3. Hutson played 26:08 and blocked three shots. Dobes\u2019s save percentage was .840. The Canadiens won 56.9 per cent of their faceoffs and had a 26-21 advantage in hits.<\/p>\n

\"TysonTyson Foerste of the Philadelphia Flyers battles with Canadiens\u2019 David Reinbacher in the first period at Xfinity Mobile Arena on April 14, 2026 in Philadelphia. Mitchell Leff \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

They said it: \u201cI thought we played a pretty good game overall,\u201d Nick Suzuki said in Philadelphia. \u201cWe created a lot. There were just some small, little plays that ended up in the back of our net. I thought it was just one of those nights where it didn\u2019t go our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery game in that jersey is special to me,\u201d Gallagher said. \u201cI\u2019ve been out of the lineup for a while. I just wanted to play well; have a game you could be proud of. I\u2019m trying to contribute to the team\u2019s success. I thought I did that, and we\u2019ll see what happens going forward. This game was important to me. I just wanted to put together an effort to be proud of.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOur execution was probably a little bit lower than we wanted,\u201d Evans told the media in Philadelphia. \u201cThat hurt us. There was an odd bounce here and there we could have used \u2014\u00a0and it didn\u2019t happen. We obviously need to be a lot better come playoff time.\u201d<\/p>\n

hzurkowsky@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well now \u2026 The Canadiens\u2019 regular season has ended much like it began more than six months earlier:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-605036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}