Apparently three games without a win was enough to try the Flyers’ patience.
That season-high stretch of one overtime and two shootout losses was starting to wear on the Flyers so they did something about it on Tuesday night in Montreal.
The Flyers broke open a close game with a pair of goals in the second period and put away the Canadiens by a 4-1 score at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Trevor Zegras and Bobby Brink connected to push the Flyers past a 1-1 tie for the victory.
Goaltender Dan Vladar followed up a strong effort in Carolina on Sunday to keep the Canadiens at bay.
Flyers are 4-0-1 in their last five road games.
Montreal has given up the second-most goals in the NHL this season and the trend continued in this game as the Flyers scored twice.
Zegras’ team-high 14th goal gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead at 6:46 of the second. Zegras worked a give-and-go with Travis Konecny and put a close-range shot past goaltender Jacob Fowler.
Then as time was running out, Fowler mishandled the puck behind his net. Matvei Michkov swept in, left Fowler out of position and dished to an open Brink with just 47.8 seconds left in the middle frame.
Once again, the Flyers have steadied the ship.
“It’s our style of play,” Sean Couturier. “We capitalized on our chances when we needed. We have to do it more consistently.”
Coach Rick Tocchet almost took this win in stride. He knew his players were going to be up for a good test against Montreal.
“We’re not a perfect team but there’s a lot of buy-in,” Tocchet said. “I thought our ‘D’ did a really good job of keeping them outside (Montreal had only 22 shots).
“I thought there were less turnovers tonight. There are still some things we’ve got to learn.”
The Flyers played the Canadiens even in a first period which stayed scoreless until the final minute of play.
Montreal struck first. Konecny’s long outlet pass failed to connect and the Canadiens broke into the Flyers’ zone with a manpower advantage. Alexandre Texier, trailing the rush, wound up with a short-range shot and the puck went in at the 19-minute mark.
The Flyers weren’t content going to the first intermission down a goal. Sean Couturier led a rush into the Montreal zone and dished to Owen Tippett. In turn, he found Grundstrom breaking down the left side for a shot past Fowler.
Grundstrom, promoted from the team’s fourth line, scored his third goal in limited ice time so far this season.
Any change of mindset playing on a more offensive-minded line?
“A little bit maybe,” he said in a televised first intermission interview. “I kind of need to make a few more plays. But the mindset is the same. Just play my game and take it from there.”
Added Couturier: “Yeah, it was huge that we got (that goal) because they scored late also. It was huge that we responded right away. And ‘Vlady’ was there when needed.”
Konecny scored into an empty net with 1:35 to play.
>Ristolainen back at it
It was like Rasmus Ristolainen didn’t miss a day, much less nine months.
The big Finn returned to the lineup on Tuesday and started leveling the Habs from the get-go.
“I thought ‘Risto’ was really good for us tonight,” Tocchet said. “For a guy who has not played in nine months, to put in that kind of effort and (Cam) York (out eight days). . .I give those two a lot of credit. They added a lot.”
>Zegras milestones
Zegras played in his 300th NHL game. Since 2000, Zegras is only the fourth Flyer to get 31 points in his first 31 games. He now has a career-high four-game goal-scoring streak. That’s the first four-game scoring streak by a Flyer since Noah Cates turned the trick last December.
Is this one of the best streaks of Zegras’ career?
“It certainly feels like it,” Zegras said in a televised second intermission interview. “I’m just having a ton of fun. Maybe it’s just the overtime (recent games). I enjoy being at the rink. It’s been great.”
>Short shots
Flyers have eight players with at least seven goals. That balance leads the NHL.
Next stop on the road trip is Buffalo for a Thursday night game against the Sabres. . .Michkov’s scoring drought continues. He hasn’t connected since Nov. 29. . .Travis Sanheim’s time on ice of 31:06 on Sunday night at Carolina was just one second off his career high (vs. Colorado, Nov. 18, 2024). . .Nikita Grebenkin was a scratch and Nic Deslauriers returned to the lineup. . .Flyers are 10-0-0 when leading after two periods and have given up only 19 goals in third periods this season, second best in NHL. . .It was the Flyers’ first regulation time win in Montreal since 2022. . .Vladar has allowed two goals or less in 13 of his 20 starts.
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