Flyers 4, Canadiens 3
PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flyers came home and their scuffling offense came to life in a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday at Wells Fargo Center.
After dropping three in a row -- all on the road while being outscored 10-5 -- the Flyers (16-15-7) received multi-point efforts from centers Brayden Schenn (one goal, two assists) and Sean Couturier (one goal, one assist), as well as defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (one goal, one assist) to pick up their first victory since Dec. 21.
Philadelphia entered with the second-fewest goals in the NHL at 78.
For the Canadiens (22-16-3), their disappointing eight-game road swing came to a conclusion as they went 2-6-0 on the trip and were outscored 33-18.
Montreal, which comes home for three straight, is 3-12-0 since Dec. 3 but has stayed afloat in large part because of nine consecutive wins to start the season.
Flyers goaltender Michael Neuvirth (9-5-2) needed to make 21 saves for the win, while Canadiens goalie Ben Scrivens (0-2-0) denied 27 shots in his second start for Montreal.
With the Flyers holding a 3-2 lead in the third period, defenseman Nick Schultz's shot from straightaway bounced directly off the back boards and right to Couturier, who batted it in before Scrivens could react to provide Philadelphia insurance.
In desperation time, Montreal pulled its goalie which resulted in a goal for left winger Daniel Carr with 55 seconds left, but the Flyers prevailed.
Couturier sparked the game's scoring by creating a turnover and dishing an outlet pass to Schenn, who finished with a breakaway goal 5:06 into the game to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead.
The Canadiens got it back with 5:46 left in the opening stanza when center Alex Galchenyuk fought his way in front and deflected a shot by defenseman Mark Barberio into the back of the net for his 10th marker of the season.
In the second period, Gostisbehere changed the game with his powerful slap shot.
At 3:20 into the frame, Gostisbehere blasted one home from the point for his seventh goal in 22 games.
Then he did it again on the power play nearly five minutes later, but this time right winger Wayne Simmonds slightly nicked it to cushion Philadelphia's advantage to 3-1.
But Montreal pushed back with 2:57 remaining in the second as right winger Brendan Gallagher, in his second game back after missing 17 with two broken fingers, brought the Canadiens within one on a tip-in goal for his 11th of the season.
Montreal got off to a 16-4-2 start thanks to a red-hot Gallagher, but when the 23-year-old went down, the Canadiens suffered a 5-11-1 skid.
NOTES: The Flyers put top offensive threats C Claude Giroux, RW Wayne Simmonds and LW Jakub Voracek on their first line. Philadelphia entered the game 29th in the NHL with 2.1 goals per game. ... Canadiens RW Devante Smith-Pelly returned to the lineup after sitting the previous three games as a healthy scratch. He replaced RW Dale Weise, who suffered an upper-body injury in the Winter Classic on Jan. 1 and will miss two to three weeks. ... Flyers LW Matt Read was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch on Jan. 2 for the first time in his career. ... Canadiens G Ben Scrivens received his second start since being acquired in a Dec. 28 trade with the Edmonton Oilers. Starting G Carey Price remains out with a lower-body injury. ... The Flyers went with six defensemen, electing to sit D Brandon Manning and D Evgeny Medvedev.