Canadiens Force OT Late, Down Flyers in Shootout

The Flyers were seconds away from putting an end to a five-game losing streak. The Canadiens were making their final push and the Flyers were hanging on for dear life. Just when it appeared the Flyers were going to survive the flurry of chances, Montreal got one last bid at a tying goal and made it count.

Cole Caufield scored with 1.9 seconds remaining in regulation, forcing overtime and eventually a shootout, where Nick Suzuki scored the lone goal to hand the Flyers their sixth straight loss, 5-4, on Saturday night.

The Flyers got off to a fast start. Just 39 seconds into the game, Travis Sanheim buried a feed from Scott Laughton to make it 1-0. Just over two minutes later, at 2:55, the Flyers had a 2-0 lead at Owen Tippett fired a long shot home.

The Canadiens had a quick answer, getting a goal back on a rebound by Christian Dvorak at 4:07.

Late in the period, the Canadiens had a power play and thought they had scored as the puck was along the skate of Carter Hart and entered the net. After a pair of reviews, the puck was confirmed to have crossed the goal line, but Hart’s pad was pushed into the net, resulting in a disallowed goal.

Moments after the disallowed goal, the Canadiens got it tied up as Caufield fired home a one-timer to make it 2-2.

Through 20 minutes, shots were 11-9 Montreal.

The Canadiens grabbed the lead at 11:55 of the second. After a prolonged shift in the Flyers zone, Mike Matheson was able to beat Hart to make it 3-2 Montreal.

Just under four minutes later, the Flyers tied it up again. Right off a face-off, Tippett beat Jake Allen with a quick shot for his second goal of the game.

Through two periods, shots were 25-17 Montreal.

Midway through the third, the Flyers broke the tie. Kevin Hayes fired a shot through a screen to make it a 4-3 game with his fifth goal of the season at 8:17.

The Flyers held the one-goal lead into the final minute of regulation. With the goalie pulled, the Canadiens fired multiple chances toward the Flyers net, several of them going wide. With 1.9 seconds remaining, the last chance they had came off the stick of Caufield on a one-timer and beat Hart’s sprawling attempt for Caufield’s second of the game.

The overtime featured little action, leading to the shootout. All three Flyers attempts were not converted, as Allen made saves on Tippett and Hayes and Morgan Frost hit both posts with his attempt. Suzuki had the lone goal while Caufield was stopped and Dvorak missed the net.

Hart made 28 saves on 32 shots in the loss. Allen made 25 saves on 29 shots in the win.

Sanheim, Tippett, and Zack MacEwen had multi-point games for the Flyers. Caufield had a three-point game, while Suzuki had two points.

Laughton left the game in the third period after hitting his head on the ice after taking a hit. He did not return.

The Flyers return to home ice on Monday night to face the Calgary Flames at 7 p.m.

Scoring Summary

1st Period

• PHI Travis Sanheim (1) (Scott Laughton, Zack MacEwen) 0:39
• PHI Owen Tippett (5) (Sanheim, Joel Farabee) 2:55
• MTL Christian Dvorak (4) (Brendan Gallagher, Arber Xhekaj) 4:07
• MTL Cole Caufield (10) PP (Kirby Dach, Mike Hoffman) 17:49

2nd Period

• MTL Mike Matheson (1) (Nick Suzuki, Caufield) 11:55
• PHI Tippett (6) (Unassisted) 15:50

3rd Period

• PHI Kevin Hayes (5) (Nick Seeler, MacEwen) 8:17
• MTL Caufield (11) (Suzuki, Sean Monahan) 19:57

Overtime

• No Scoring

Shootout

• MTL Cole Caufield – Save
• PHI Owen Tippett – Save
• MTL Nick Suzuki – Goal
• PHI Morgan Frost – Miss
• MTL Christian Dvorak – Miss
• PHI Kevin Hayes – Save

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