The Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens will face off on April 5, 2025, at Bell Centre in a game that highlights two teams traveling in starkly different directions. For the Canadiens, currently holding onto the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference with a 33-28-9 record, every point is vital as they fight to stay above the playoff cut line. Their recent 4-2 win over Florida snapped a brief skid and served as a morale-boosting performance in a tight playoff race. Meanwhile, the Flyers are enduring a brutal stretch that has all but eliminated them from contention. With a 29-36-9 record and an ugly 1-10-1 run in their last 12 games, Philadelphia is now playing for pride, development, and perhaps the faintest glimmer of a late-season moral victory. The contrast couldn’t be sharper: one team is clinging to relevance in April, the other is just trying to get through the month without adding more bruises. On paper and on ice, the edge belongs to Montreal, especially at home, where their urgency, crowd energy, and superior special teams give them a clear advantage. Still, in a season full of unpredictable results, even a struggling Flyers squad can’t be totally dismissed — not yet. The Canadiens, despite their defensive flaws, have found a way to stay in the mix thanks to a combination of timely scoring, strong leadership, and better-than-expected play from their core. They average 2.99 goals per game — a middle-of-the-pack number — but their offense has come through in key moments. Nick Suzuki continues to carry the team with 77 points, including 23 goals and 54 assists. His steady two-way play and calm leadership have helped steady the ship through the season’s ebbs and flows.

Supporting him are young talents like Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovský, who bring energy and creativity to the attack. Defensively, the Canadiens are still a work in progress. They allow 3.33 goals per game, and goaltender Sam Montembeault, while serviceable with a 2.91 GAA and .899 save percentage, isn’t the type to steal games on his own. That said, Montreal’s penalty kill ranks seventh in the league at 81.48%, and in games like this — where mistakes often determine the winner — special teams matter more than ever. If the Habs can stay out of the box and capitalize on Philadelphia’s bottom-five power play, they should be able to control the pace of play and tilt the ice in their favor for most of the night. As for the Flyers, it’s been a season to forget. A 29-36-9 record only tells part of the story; their recent 1-10-1 slide and an 0-4-1 mark on their latest five-game road trip highlight just how far they’ve fallen. The team averages just 2.69 goals per game and has a brutal power play, scoring on only 13.9% of their opportunities. No one on the roster has cracked 30 goals, and outside of Travis Konecny and Joel Farabee, consistent offensive threats have been hard to find. On defense, they’re giving up 3.34 goals per game, and goaltender Ivan Fedotov has struggled with a 2.98 GAA and .884 save percentage. There’s little structure in their defensive zone coverage, and their puck movement on the breakout often looks confused and rushed. The one faint hope they carry is that a young, angry team with nothing to lose can sometimes catch a more desperate team off guard. But without a major improvement in effort, discipline, and net-front play, it’s hard to envision Philadelphia doing much more than surviving another night in what’s become a very long season.