5 THINGS: Flyers vs. Canadiens

John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (28-32-12) are home on Tuesday evening to take on Martin St. Louis's Montreal Canadiens (29-38-6). The match is the final one in the Flyers' current seven-game homestand. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT.

GAME NOTES
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the third and final meeting of the season between the teams and the second game in Philadelphia. The Flyers are 0-1-1 this season against the Habs.
On Nov. 19 at the Bell Centre, a buzzer-beating goal by Cole Caufield with 1.9 seconds left in regulation forced overtime. In a shootout, Nick Suzuki scored a backhanded goal in the second round, while Morgan Frost hit both posts on an unsuccessful attempt. The Habs prevailed, 5-4 (1-0), despite Owen TIppett scoring two goals for Philly in regulation.
On Feb. 24 at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers suffered an ugly 5-2 loss to an injury-riddled Canadiens squad. In the third period, Tippett collected a goal at the nine-second mark, and Frost assisted both on Tippett's tally and a subsequent goal by Ivan Provorov. However, it was too little and too late for Philly to alter the outcome of one of the season's worst overall performances.
Entering tonight's game, the Flyers are 4-1-1 during the current homestand. They have won three straight games and have collected points in five straight tilts (4-0-1). On Saturday, a 29-save shutout by Carter Hart backstopped Philadelphia to a 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Kieffer Bellows (3rd goal of the season), Scott Laughton (4-on-4, 18th goal of the season) and rookie Tyson Foerster (empty net, 3rd) tallied for the Flyers. Philadelphia went 7-for-7 on the penalty kill and has now successfully killed 10 straight penalties after a stretch of allowing at least one opposing power play goal in seven straight games.
The Canadiens have won back-to-back games. The team is playing its third game in four nights and the second half of a back-to-back set. On Saturday, the hosting Habs crushed Columbus, 8-2. Last night, on the road in Buffalo, the Canadiens skated to a 4-3 (2-1 in six rounds) shootout victory over the Sabres.
Jordan Harris (4th goal of the season), Alex Belzile (6th), and Brendan Gallagher (6th) scored in regulation for Montreal. The Habs led 1-0 and 2-1 then trailed 3-2 before Gallagher notched the tying goal at 8:35 of the third period. After a scoreless overtime, Jesse Ylönen prolonged the shootout with a third-round goal and Michael Pezzetta netted the game-winner in Round 6. Jake Allen earned the win net with 30 saves on 33 shots in regulation and overtime and five saves on six shots in the shootout.
Here are five things to watch in tonight's game.
1. Farabee goes for a six-game point streak.
Joel Farabee was unable to convert an empty-net opportunity in the Detroit game that would have extended a goal streak to five straight games. However, he ultimately collected an assist on the extended sequence that ended in Foerster's empty net goal.
As such, Farabee will bring a five-game point streak into tonight's match against Montreal and will look to extend it to six. After enduring a stretch of 26 games without a goal (0g, 4a), Farabee has rebuilt his offensive confidence as the season has come down to its final 12 games.
Farabee's current five game point streak is a season-best for the 23-year-old forward. He did, however, have a stretch of seven points (3g, 4a) in six games between Jan. 2 to Jan. 4. There was one game in that stretch (Jan. 8 against Toronto) in which he was unable to get on the scoresheet.
2. JVR and Provorov milestones in reach.
It is no secret that the second Flyers stint of James van Riemsdyk's stint will come to an end when he becomes an unrestricted free agent after the 2022-23 season. However, while he's still in orange and black, JVR has one significant career milestone within his reach over the final 10 games.
Entering tonight's game, van Riemsdyk is two goals away from reaching 300 in his NHL career. Among his 298 tallies in his career, JVR has scored 144 in 517 games for the Flyers. He had 154 goals in 413 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs after breaking into the NHL with the Flyers and before returning to Philadelphia as a free agent in the summer of 2018.
JVR will surpass a different milestone tonight when he skates his first shift: he'll surpass Scott Hartnell (517 Flyers games) for 34th on the franchise all-time games played list. Come Thursday in Ottawa, van Riemsdyk can tie Kimmo Timonen (519 games played as a Flyer) for 33rd. Also within reach by the end of the season: Murray Craven (523) and Ilkka Sinisalo (526).
Note: Provorov (522 career games, all with the Flyers) will tie Craven tonight for 31st in games played as a Flyer. Among defensemen, Provorov is 10th in games played in franchise history, having played in 522 of 524 possible games.
3. Situational play.
Special teams play has been a major factor why both the Flyers and Canadiens are destined to find themselves in the NHL Entry Draft Lottery this summer.
On the power play, the Flyers rank last in the NHL at 15.6 percent while the Habs are 28th at 17.3 percent. On the penalty kill, the Flyers rank 27th at 74.9 percent and the Canadiens are 29th at 73.1 percent. Philly scored 11 shorthanded goals while the Habs have tallied four.
At 5-on-5, the Flyers are minus-11 as a team (134 goals scored, 145 goals allowed). The Canadens are minus-26, having scored 150 goals but also having yielded 176.
4. Flyers line play
The Flyers did not practice on Sunday (Flyers Charities Carnival) or Monday (teamwide off-day). They will hold a 10:30 a.m. ET morning skate at the FTC in Voorhees today.
On Sunday, the Flyers reassigned Foerster and defenseman Egor Zamula to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms so that both players could suit up for the Phantoms road game against the Hershey Bears. The Phantoms do not play again until Friday but there are no NHL recalls for tonight's game as of this writing.
Nicolas Deslauriers, who missed the last two games with an upper-body injury, will return to the lineup tonight. The rehabbing Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny also took part in practice.
The Flyers will once again start 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Justin Braun will return to the lineup. Forward Tanner Laczynski will remain a healthy scratch.
Potential starting lineup (subject to change)
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 74 Owen Tippett
22 Brendan Lemieux - 48 Morgan Frost - 57 Wade Allison
25 James van Riemsdyk - 13 Kevin Hayes - 20 Kieffer Bellows
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 21 Scott Laughton - xxxxxxxx
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
24 Nick Seeler - 77 Tony DeAngelo
61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart
[32 Felix Sandström]
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Montreal Canadiens
Cayden Primeau, the son of Flyers alum Keith Primeau, will get the start in net for the Canadiens tonight. The Canadiens still have an extensive injury list, with nine players on Injured Reserve. Josh Anderson, Juraj Slafkovsky, Kaiden Guhle, Cole Caufield, Christian Dvorak, Carey Price, Anahim Lake, Paul Byron, Arber Xhekaj, and Sean Monahan.
The Canadiens will not hold a morning skate on Tuesday. Monday's lineup, subject to change, is indicated below:
49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard -14 Nick Suzuki - 68 Mike Hoffman
25 Denis Gurianov - 77 Kirby Dach - 27 Jonathan Drouin
56 Jesse Ylönen - 71 Jake Evans -11 Brendan Gallagher
55 Michael Pezzetta - 67 Chris Tierney -60 Alex Belzile
8 Mike Matheson -58 David Savard
44 Joel Edmundson -52 Justin Barron
54 Jordan Harris -26 Johnathan Kovacevic
30 Cayden Primeau
[34 Jake Allen]