5 THINGS: Flyers vs. Canadiens

GAME NOTES
Interim head coach Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (18-30-10) will host interim head coach Martin St. Louis' Montreal Canadiens (15-35-8) at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday evening. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. ET (NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic).

This is the second of three meetings this season between the teams and the lone game in Philadelphia. The Flyers are 0-0-1 to date against the Habs. The season series will conclude on April 21 at the Bell Centre.
On Dec. 16 in Montreal, the Flyers dropped a 3-2 (1-0) decision via shootout despite 38 saves from Carter Hart. The Flyers trailed 1-0 after the first period on an Artturi Lehkonen tally. Second-period goals by Max Willman and Jackson Cates (1st NHL goal) sent the Flyers to the third period with a one-goal lead. Montreal's Laurent Dauphin re-tied the score with 5:39 remaining in regulation.
In overtime, the Flyers were unable to capitalize on a full two-minute 4-on-3 power play. Montreal's Jonathan Drouin secured the bonus point by converting his first-round shootout attempt; the only tally for either team. Cayden Primeau earned the win in goal for Montreal with 37 saves in regulation and overtime and a 3-for-3 showing in the shootout.
The Flyers are playing their third game in four nights, and the second half of a back-to-back set. On Saturday afternoon, the Flyers sustained a 3-1 road loss to the Carolina Hurricanes after the game had been up for grabs (tied 1-1) entering the final four minutes of regulation. Two nights earlier, the Flyers lost, 6-3, to the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, FL.
Montreal enters this game coming off a 4-3 (1-0) home loss to the Seattle Kraken in a seven-round shootout on Saturday. Michael Pezetta (5th goal of the season), Alexander Romanov (3rd) and a late third-period goal by Nick Suzuki (14th) forced overtime after the Habs trailed by scores of 1-0 and 3-1. Samuel Montembeault took the shootout loss in goal.
Here are five things to watch in this game:
1. Giroux: Milestone Watch
On Sunday, Flyers captain Claude Giroux will dress in the 999th regular season game of his NHL career. He is slated to hit the coveted 1,000-game milestone on Thursday, when the Flyers host the Nashville Predators.
In the meantime, Giroux can achieve two other milestones in Sunday's game against Montreal. He is one point away from 900 in his regular season career. Simultaneously, Giroux is one goal away from passing Hockey Hall of Famer Eric Lindros for sole possession of eighth place on the Flyers' all-time goal scoring list. Both Lindros (486 games) and Giroux (998) scored 290 goals in a Flyers' uniform. Giroux, of course, has always been more of a playmaker than a goal-scorer.
Giroux has gotten a little banged up in the last few games. He was on the receiving end of a heavy and somewhat questionable hit on Thursday from Florida's Petteri Lindbohm. On Saturday, Giroux was in pain after a shift with an apparent issue with his left hand. Things such as these, however, will not keep Giroux out of the lineup. He's always had a high threshold for pain and competitive drive.
For the season, Giroux is second on the Flyers with 41 points. Cam Atkinson leads the team with 44 points. Giroux shares the team assist lead with Travis Konecny (24 apiece), and the captain's 17 goals are second behind Atkinson's 21. For his career, Giroux has posted 10 goals and 26 points in 37 games against the Canadiens.
2. Groove is in the Hart
Sometimes, stats can be deceptive. Flyers goaltender Carter Hart was every bit as strong in net on Thursday in Florida as he was two nights earlier in making a career-record 47 saves in a 2-1 home win against Vegas. Hart's stat line in Florida (5 GA on 36 shots including four goals against on 19 shots in the first period) might have looked ugly but his actual play was very strong. He had no chance of stopping at least four -- and, arguably, any -- of the Florida goals.
On Thursday, Hart was victimized by wicked deflections, bad gaps in coverage and two sheer bad puck luck plays (first on an errant shot that bounced off a forward's chest and was batted into the net out of the air and, later, an attempted cross-ice pass by Florida's Anthony Duclair that Flyers center Patrick Brown accidentally deflected into the net). There was nothing any goalie could do to prevent those particular goals. In the meantime, Hart's net was under siege in the first period in particular and the score easily could have been 7-0 or 8-0 if not for strong saves made by the goalie.
Two nights earlier against Vegas, Hart flat out stole two points for his team. He also had 23 shot blocks in front of him and there were no crazy bounces. There was also generally better defensive structure despite the high shot volume and multiple high danger chances he faced resulting from the sheer amount of time the Flyers were forced to play defense.
Martin Jones gave the Flyers a strong outing in a losing cause in Saturday's game against the Hurricanes. Now the reigns will go back to Hart for the second game of the back-to-back.
3. Inside the Numbers
Whenever two teams who are buried in the standings play against one another, both the primary and underlying numbers will inevitably show multiple on-ice issues that have led to that point. The Habs are the NHL's lowest-scoring team (ranked 32nd at 2.43 goals scored per game) and the team with the league's highest goals against average (3.79 ranked 32nd). The Flyers come in ranked 31st offensively at 2.50 goals scored per game. Philly is ranked 24th in goals against average (3.41).
Likewise, both teams have struggled at 5-on-5 (97 GA/ 133 GA for Montreal, 105 GF/ 125 GA for the Flyers) and on special teams. The Flyers' power play ranks 30th (13.7 percent) and Montreal's ranks 31st (12.7 percent). On the penalty kill, the Flyers rank 25th (75.6 percent) while the Canadiens check in ranked 29th (75.3 percent).
However, since Martin St. Louis took over as interim head coach on Feb. 9, the Canadiens have been a more competitive team, posting a 7-5-1 record in that span. The team has been scoring a bit more of late (3.23 GPG, 3.15 GAA). The special teams have continued to scuffle but they are in the black (29 GF/ 22 GA) at five-on-five over the 13 games since the coaching change.
The Flyers, meanwhile, have been involved in a slew of recent games where they were tied, up by one goal or down by a goal within the third period. However, closing them out successfully has remained elusive. Dating back to Feb. 9, the Flyers are 3-8-2 over the last 13 games. Finishing scoring chances has been the biggest problem, The Flyers GPG in the last 13 games is just 2.46 goals per game.

4. Behind Enemy Lines: Montreal Canadiens
The Canadiens have dropped back-to-back games but are 7-2-1 over their last 10 games; by far the club's best stretch of the season. Following this game, the Canadiens will have a six-game homestand.
Entering Sunday's game, 22-year-old Nick Suzuki leads the Canadiens with 41 points (14 goals, 27 assists) in 56 games. He's followed by Lehkonen (13 goals, 28 points), Josh Anderson (15g, 24 points), Cole Caufield (eight goals, 23 points), veteran Mike Hoffman (11 goals, 22 points) and the injured Drouin (six goals and 20 points in 32 games played). Suzuki has racked up eight points (3g, 5a) over the last five games while Lehkonen has scored four goals in that span.
The Habs have an extensive injury list with seven players currently on IR. Defenseman Joel Edmundson, who underwent back surgery. returned to the lineup on Saturday against Seattle (six credited hits, two shots on goal in 16:38 of ice time). However, for conditioning reasons, the player will not suit up in Philadelphia so as to avoid playing on back-to-back days after having not played previously all season.
5. Players to Watch: Brassard and Caufield
Flyers center Derick Brassard has started to settle back in now that he's been able to string some healthy games together following a series of lengthy absences from the lineup due to a nagging hip issue. Brassard has chipped in points in three of his last four games (2g, 1a) and tied the game at 1-1 on Saturday with a second period tally shortly after a would-be rebound goal for Atkinson was disallowed for Brassard making contact with goalie Frederik Andersen as Brassard initially drove to the net with the puck.
One of the NHL's most promising young snipers, Cole Caufield got off to a very rough start this season and spent a stint in the American Hockey League with Laval. Although his full-season numbers are modest, the 21-year-old has been quite effective since St. Louis became interim head coach. The pint-sized Caufield has scored seven goals and added eight assists for 15 points in his last 13 games. Caufield had a four-game point streak come to an end on Saturday against the Kraken.