Montreal @ Philadelphia preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 21, 2019 ) Philadelphia 1, Montreal 5

The Philadelphia Flyers benefited from a late uprising against a bitter rival to keep their flickering postseason aspirations alive. The Flyers will look to bolster their slim chances at the expense of another club vying for a playoff spot on Tuesday when they host the Montreal Canadiens at Wells Fargo Center.

Rookie Carter Hart made a career high-tying 41 stops in Sunday's potential season-saving 2-1 overtime victory over Pittsburgh to post his first win since returning from an ankle injury sustained prior to Philadelphia's 5-1 setback in Montreal on Feb. 21. "(Hart) was great. That's what you want from your goalie. ... We had to step up for him," said Sean Couturier, who certainly did that by scoring with 3.4 seconds remaining in overtime to push the Flyers within six points of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 10 games left on the schedule. Montreal, which resides three points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets with 10 to play, has been outscored 18-8 en route to losing four of its last five contests. "We're not dead," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said on Monday. "We practiced hard today and we're going to go to Philly and give it everything we have. That's the bottom line."

TV: 7 p.m. ET, TSN2, RDS (Montreal), NBCS Philadelphia

ABOUT THE CANADIENS (37-28-7): A punchless power play has plagued Montreal throughout the season, with the club mired in a 2-for-40 stretch over the last 16 games to fall to an NHL-worst 11.9 percent in 2018-19. "It's definitely been an issue that I think has hurt us this year," defenseman Jeff Petry told the Montreal Gazette. "But we can't stop working on it and trying to tweak things to get it going. We have an important stretch here where I think everything needs to find a way to click and we need to be sharp down these final games." Brendan Gallagher, who has scored four of his team-high 30 goals on the power play this season, recorded his first career hat trick in the last meeting with Philadelphia.

ABOUT THE FLYERS (35-29-8): Signed to a five-year, $35 million contract in the offseason, James van Riemsdyk has paid substantial dividends with 19 goals in his last 29 games overall and 10 in his last 11 after tallying with 18.8 seconds remaining in the third period on Sunday. "You just like to play with smart players, ultimately, and we have a lot of those in this room," the 29-year-old van Riemsdyk said of the help he's received in reaching 25 goals this season. Couturier, who has a team-leading 29 goals on the season, has collected 40 points (14 goals, 26 assists) in his last 30 games.

OVERTIME

1. Montreal G Carey Price has started 18 of the last 19 games, with a 29-save performance in last month's win over Philadelphia included in that stretch.

2. Flyers C Travis Konecny, who has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in his last 15 contests, scored and set up a goal in a 5-2 win over the Canadiens on Jan. 19.

3. Montreal C Jonathan Drouin has been held off the scoresheet in 15 of his last 16 games.

PREDICTION: Canadiens 2, Flyers 1