With the gauntlet in the rear-view mirror, the Flyers had an opportunity to potentially start to put some distance between themselves and the teams chasing them in the playoffs. Their first chance at that didn’t go well.
The Flyers allowed two goals in the first period and struggled to generate chances until the third period, falling to the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1, on Thursday night.
The Flyers got off to a slow start, allowing two goals in the opening period and generating just five shots.
After an unsuccessful power play, the penalty kill’s struggles continued. Nick Suzuki was left alone on the doorstep to knock in a scoring chance and make it 1-0 on his 30th goal of the season at 12:58.
Just under four minutes later, another breakdown in coverage allowed the Canadiens to pounce on a rebound. Jayden Struble‘s shot was stopped, but Jesse Ylonen put home the rebound to make it 2-0 on his fourth of the season.
Through 20 minutes, shots were 6-5 Montreal.
The Flyers managed eight shots on goal in the middle period and some better opportunities, but didn’t generate enough sustained pressure. They limit the Canadiens to six shots again in the second, taking a 14-12 lead overall for the game, but not trimming the deficit any.
The Flyers again outshot the Canadiens, 13-4, in the third period, but could not solve the Canadiens netminder. Twice, they had goals disallowed, first for a kicking motion by Garnet Hathaway, then a missed offside call.
With 2:55 remaining, the Canadiens put the game away as Joel Armia scored into an empty net.
Owen Tippett broke up the shutout bid with 1:01 to play with his 27th goal of the season.
Jake Evans added another empty-netter with 3.1 seconds remaining.
Cayden Primeau made 29 saves on 30 shots. Sam Ersson made 13 saves on 15 shots in the loss.
Mike Matheson had three assists. Suzuki and Armia each had a goal and an assist.
The Flyers are back on home ice on Saturday night to take on the Chicago Blackhawks at 7 p.m.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
| Flyers | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Canadiens | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Scoring Summary
1st Period
- MTL Nick Suzuki (30) PP (Juraj Slafkovsky, Mike Matheson) 12:58
- MTL Jesse Ylonen (4) (J Struble, Suzuki) 16:46
2nd Period
- No Scoring
3rd Period
- MTL Joel Armia (13) EN (Matheson, Kaiden Guhle) 17:05
- PHI Owen Tippett (27) (Garnet Hathaway, Travis Konecny) 18:59
- MTL Jake Evans (6) EN (Matheson, Armia) 19:57
Game Statistics
| Flyers | Canadiens | |
| Shots | 30 | 17 |
| Power Play | 0/4 | 1/2 |
| Hits | 18 | 26 |
| Faceoff % | 51% | 49% |
| Giveaways | 9 | 11 |
| Takeaways | 1 | 8 |
| Blocked Shots | 13 | 21 |
| Penalty Minutes | 10 | 14 |
