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 Flynn scored the game-winner and added a pair of assists to lead the
Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on
Wednesday in Game 1 of their quarterfinal playoff series.
"It was a great night but personally (I'm) trying not to get too
high," said Flynn, acquired from the Buffalo Sabres at the trade
deadline. "It's a long series, a long playoffs, a lot can happen. I
think I should be able to draw some confidence from it but just try
not to get too high right now."
Centers Torrey Mitchell, Tomas Plekanec and Lars Eller also scored
for the Canadiens, while left winger Milan Michalek and centers Kyle
Turris and Mika Zibanejad scored for Ottawa.
Goaltender Carey Price stopped 30 shots for the Canadiens and
netminder Andrew Hammond made 35 saves for the Senators.
The Senators benefited from a mistake by defenseman Andrei Markov to
notch the first goal of the series. A shot from Michalek bounced off
the end boards to Price's right. Markov, right in front of his
goalie, got his stick on the puck with the intention of pushing it
over to Price to stop the play. But the Montreal goalie was upright,
and the puck went through his legs at 12:25 of the first period.
Mitchell brought the Bell Centre to life when he tied it at 7:53 of
the second period. Hammond stopped Flynn's shot but was on his far
right when Mitchell picked up the rebound and tucked in the
wraparound on the left side.
Plekanec gave Montreal its first lead of the night 15 seconds later
on a 2-on-1 with right winger Brendan Gallagher. Left winger Alex
Galchenyuk got Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson off his game with a
hit, and the Senators captain missed the puck going by him, setting
up the breakout and Plekanec's shot from the left circle.
A five-minute major to defenseman P.K. Subban -- after he slashed
right winger Mark Stone -- allowed Ottawa to tie it on the power
play at 10:36 shortly after a 5-on-3 in its favor expired. Turris'
shot from the left circle went in under the crossbar, but came out
so quickly a review was required to confirm the goal.
Subban was also given a game misconduct. Stone went to the room but
returned later in the frame.
"It's a vicious slash on an unprotected part of the body and you
either do one of two things," Senators head coach Dave Cameron said.
"I think it's an easy solution: you've got to suspend him or if one
of their players gets slashed, just give us five (minutes). Not that
complicated."
Montreal regained its lead just over a minute later on the same
Ottawa power play. Flynn, at the Senators' blue line, got the puck
over to Eller, who broke in and lifted the puck over Hammond.
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Still on the power play, Zibanejad tied it at 12:36. Price saved
defenseman Patrick Wiercioch's shot from the circle but the puck
bounced out to the Senators winger, and he tossed it far side behind
the Canadiens netminder.
Flynn made it 4-3 at 17:17. Left winger Brandon Prust took the
rebound of defenseman Nathan Beaulieu's point shot and got it over
to Flynn. The winger kicked the puck up to his stick and skated
around in front of Hammond before tucking it under the goalie's pad.
"We did everything we could tonight and we wanted to come out with a
win, and we found a way to do it, despite a lot of adversity," Eller
said. "Big credit to every player in this room for the effort we
gave for 60 minutes."
It marked just the third time Hammond has given up at least four
goals in a game.
"We had an opportunity to win tonight," Karlsson said. "I think we
played good enough for periods of time. I don't think we had our
best game that we've had in a while but that's how it's going to be.
"I think we were a little bit sloppy in the back end and
unfortunately we couldn't put it past (Price) when we created real
scoring chances. That's how it's going to be sometimes and they did
a good job."
NOTES: Still recovering from an upper-body injury suffered April 5,
Montreal LW Max Pacioretty missed Game 1 of the series but could be
ready for Game 2. ... The Senators sported "MR" stickers on their
helmets in honor of assistant coach Mark Reeds, who died of cancer
earlier in the week. ... Canadiens D Tom Gilbert returned to the
lineup after missing the last two games of the regular season. ...
Ottawa scratched C Colin Greening, C Zack Smith, RW Chris Neil, LW
Matt Puempel and D Jared Cowen. Montreal scratched C Manny Malhotra,
D Mike Weaver, D Sergei Gonchar and D Greg Pateryn.
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