The Philadelphia Flyers (7-5-1) earned their first road win of the season after a gutsy 5-4 shootout victory over the Montréal Canadiens (9-3-1) Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
It was a grudge match and rollercoaster of a game with the tide shifting between both teams continuously. The Flyers went up 3-0, trailed 4-3, evened the score, and then finished off the Canadiens.
Philadelphia’s M.O. entering the contest was to get pucks to the net and generate second and third opportunities. The solo chances weren’t enough as the Flyers had one goal on 18 shots against the Calgary Flames and just two tallies in their loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“It’s on us to keep going to the net and make sure we’re getting there because the defense is doing a better job,” Travis Konecny said following the 2-1 loss to Calgary. “The one and dones aren’t what you want to see. It kills the momentum because you’re going back and forth and might spend two or three shifts just chasing the puck around.”
Well, when the puck dropped in Montréal, the Flyers answered the call.
FIRST PERIOD
Just 1:56 into the game, Bobby Brink skated towards the hashmarks and redirected a beautiful setup pass by Travis Sanheim into the back of the net. Sean Couturier’s effort on the opening goal largely went unnoticed as his hustle voided an icing call prior to the captain outworking three Canadiens in the corner.
A delay of game penalty by Mike Matheson and cross-checking minor to Noah Dobson put both Canadiens defensemen in the box, giving the Flyers a 5-on-3 man advantage. Philadelphia’s power play dropped towards the lower end of the middle of the pack after going 4-for-15 over their five-game homestand but quickly capitalized this time around.
Trevor Zegras took the puck out to the blue line, trading spots with Cam York. Zegras displayed his highlight reel talent by sending a behind-the-back dish over to York who hammered it home for his first goal of the season.
Zegras wasn’t done as he created open space while drawing all four Canadiens eyes on him for Brink to slide in backdoor burying his second of the game.
Zegras now has four goals and 15 points this season as he continues to solidify himself as a vital acquisition this offseason.
“You feel like it’s easy to be confident when you come to the rink and all these guys are bringing such good energy and life to the room and the team. I feel right at home here, and it’s been a lot of fun,” Zegras said.
For Brink, it was his fifth goal of the season, tying Owen Tippett for the most on the Flyers. The 24-year-old continues to string together a breakout year.
Philadelphia maintained heavy pressure on Montréal following Brink’s goal to make it 3-0 Flyers. Had it not been for Canadiens netminder Sam Montembeault, York and Noah Cates could have added to the lead.
The Flyers outshot the Canadiens 12-2 after the first 20 minutes of play, arguably their best period this season.
“Our power play was really good, being able to execute. We had a game plan coming into the game. I thought we executed. It was a great start for us,” York said.
SECOND PERIOD
Tippett began the middle stanza with two quality chances that Montembeault denied. Montréal went the other way, and Kirby Dach put the Canadiens on the board after a fortuitous bounce landed right on his tape.
Just 63 seconds later, Ivan Demidov connected with Nick Suzuki to cut Philadelphia’s lead to one on the power play. It was a questionable call on Sanheim for tripping that led to the Flyers being shorthanded. Regardless, Montréal had the momentum.
Reigning Calder Trophy winner Lane Hutson then displayed why he won some hardware last season as he walked around Jacob Gaucher to set up Dach in the crease. The former third overall pick netted his second of the night to erase what once was a 3-0 Flyers lead.
Stop me if you’ve read this before, but Montréal found themselves on another power play. Brink tripped Demidov for the Flyers’ third tripping infraction. As quickly as Philadelphia’s lead vanished, Demidov’s goal that put Montréal in front was as fast. Dan Vladař reacted to the shot after the puck came out of the net.
It’s safe to say that this was the Flyers’ worst second period.
“We won the first, they won the second. It was just a battle for the third period. Whoever won that one was going to win the game,” York said.
THIRD PERIOD
The third period began with Nic Deslauriers dropping the gloves with Arber Xhekaj. The two heavyweights had a tilt in 2022, and Deslauriers fought younger brother Florian Xhekaj in the preseason. Deslauriers landed a slew of rights while trying to spark a comeback for his team.
That fight jolted the Flyers, and they began to control the play by spending time in Montréal’s defensive zone. Shades of the first period were occurring and all Philadelphia needed was the equalizer. Enter Mr. Backcheck, Forecheck, Paycheck: Nikita Grebenkin.
Grebenkin ripped a shot through traffic that finally snapped Montembeault’s 31 straight-save bid. It was Grebenkin’s first goal in the NHL.
It was only right the action-packed game went to overtime. Konecny and Demidov each had prime opportunities to end it, but 65 minutes wasn’t enough to decide a winner.
The shootout, which now is Philadelphia’s bread and butter, once again favored the Flyers. Zegras scored the lone goal improving to 65.2% (15-for-23) in the shootout.
Suzuki could have extended the game but whiffed and Vladař was able to lock down the Flyers first road win. It wasn’t pretty at times for Vladař stopping 16 of 20 shots for a .800 SV%; however, he came through when the Flyers needed him the most.
“Vladdy came up big for us,” Rick Tocchet said. “He could have folded. Four goals, the crowd’s freaking out and going crazy. He could have gone two ways, and he held his own and had a great result.”
UP NEXT
The Flyers’ next contest will be Thursday night against the Nashville Predators. The Flyers beat the Predators in Philadelphia 4-1 last Thursday and now will play in Music City.
