Joel Farabee's quick-response, go-ahead goal in the second period Wednesday lifted the Philadelphia Flyers to a 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens in the opening game of a first-round Eastern Conference playoff series in Toronto.
Farabee's rebound goal came 16 seconds after Montreal tied it. Jakub Voracek also scored for Philadelphia, the top seed in the East, and Carter Hart made 27 saves.
Shea Weber scored for the Canadiens, the eighth seed. Carey Price stopped 29 of 31 shots.
With Jonathan Drouin off for slashing, the Flyers broke an 0-for-11 drought on the power play they had built during round-robin play to take a 1-0 lead.
Ivan Provorov's one-timer from the center point off a feed from Claude Giroux went in off Voracek at 8:54 of the first. It was Giroux's first point this postseason. Voracek had missed the Flyers' final round-robin game because of an undisclosed injury.
Each goalie made a slick save in the second before the next goal.
Philadelphia's Scott Laughton drove down the slot and appeared to have an easy goal with Price sprawled in the crease, but the goalie reached up to just get a piece of the puck with his stick and send it over the crossbar.
On an ensuing Montreal two-on-one, Hart smothered a point-blank shot by Byron with his pads.
The Canadiens took their turn at busting a power-play drought, tying it 1-1 at 14:38 of the second. Out of a goalmouth scramble, Drouin was able to dish over to Weber, who moved in from the left circle and slammed the puck home with Hart leaning the other way.
Montreal's power play had been 0-for-12 in their past three games.
Farabee restored the Philadelphia lead 16 seconds later. The Canadiens failed to clear, and Travis Sanheim gained possession at the left point. His shot produced a short rebound off Price's pads, and Farabee was at the doorstep to rap the puck in for a 2-1 lead.
--Field Level Media
Montreal | Philadelphia | |
Shea Weber 1 | Points | Joel Farabee 1 |
Shea Weber 1 | Goals | Joel Farabee 1 |
Jonathan Drouin 1 | Assists | Claude Giroux 1 |
Shea Weber 1 | Power Play Goals | Jakub Voracek 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Carey Price .935 | Save Percentage | Carter Hart .964 |
Carey Price 29 | Saves | Carter Hart 27 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Montreal | 28 | 1 | 1-1 | 2-3 | 10 | 27 |
Philadelphia | 31 | 2 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 6 | 32 |