TORONTO - The Habs and Flyers officially kicked off their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena.
The eighth-seeded Canadiens faced off against the Flyers in Game 1 of the best-of-7 series on Wednesday, with the Flyers owning "home" ice advantage as the top-seeded team in the East.
Ivan Provorov notched the opening goal on the Flyers' first power play of the series mid-way through the first period, beating Carey Price with a double-deflection to open the scoring.
The Canadiens came to life in the second period, peppering Carter Hart with 17 shots in the middle frame after registering just five shots on goal in the first.
Shea Weber was the architect of the first Habs goal of the series, picking up a rebound after blasting a shot from the top of the circle, beating Hart to give the Canadiens their first power play goal of the postseason. According to NHL PR, with the goal, Weber became just the second defenseman in Canadiens history to score in three or more consecutive postseason games, joining Guy Lapointe on that exclusive list.
The celebration was short-lived, however, as Joel Farabee replied for the Flyers just 16 seconds after Weber's goal, sending the Canadiens into the second intermission down by one in the opening tilt.
Despite some solid chances in the third, including a shot off the crossbar from Nick Suzuki with Price out of the Canadiens' net with under a minute to go, the Flyers took Game 1 by a score of 2-1.
Phillip Danault continued his faceoff prowess on Wednesday, winning 57% of his draws on the night while also adding five hits. Brendan Gallagher led the Canadiens with seven shots, while Price made 29 saves in the loss.
Game 2 is scheduled for Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. in Toronto.
