Canadiens 3, Flyers 2 (SO)
MONTREAL -- Left winger Paul Byron scored the shootout winner to lift the Montreal Canadiens to 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night at the Bell Centre.
Right winger Dale Weise and left winger Max Pacioretty scored in regulation for Montreal.
Center Nick Cousins and left winger Michael Raffl connected for the Flyers (25-21-10).
Goaltender Mike Condon stopped 35 shots for the Canadiens (27-27-4). Michal Neuvirth made 30 saves for Philadelphia.
Weise opened the scoring 2:56 into the first period with his 14th of the season. Defenseman Andrei Markov rimmed the puck around the boards and Weise picked it up to the left of the trapezoid, with an eye on a pass to his linemates in front of the net. But the intended feed hit defenseman Nick Schultz, redirecting the disc past Neuvirth.
The lead, though, would be short-lived. Cousins took a quick pass from winger Jakub Voracek and drove in along the left side before firing top shelf on Condon from the left circle a mere 10 seconds later.
Both teams had their chances in the second, each with a pair of power-play opportunities. But the offensively-challenged teams couldn't capitalize.
Montreal had one of its best chances while short-handed, as Markov and center Lars Eller created a give-and-go on a 2-on-1, but Markov's final pass to Eller missed. Back at even strength, right winger Brendan Gallagher couldn't get pounce on a rebound off Alex Galchenyuk's shot.
Shortly thereafter, Voracek nearly took advantage of a Canadiens turnover to put the Flyers ahead when he tried to poke it in through Condon at the side of the net but couldn't squeak it through.
The Flyers wouldn't waste another Montreal turnover. Raffl picked the puck off center Tomas Plekanec and dished off to left winger Scott Laughton, who fed rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere with a drop pass along the right wall. Gostisbehere, from the circle, sent a quick pass to Raffl at the side of the net for the easy tip-in at 3:15 of the third period.
With the assist, Gostisbehere extended his point streak to 14 games, recording 17 points in that stretch.
Struggling to generate much with the man advantage, the Canadiens finally converted to tie the game at 8:35.
Subban found Pacioretty along the right wall and the Habs captain showed some patience before firing a wrister at the top of the circle.
Montreal defenseman Tom Gilbert left late in the second after suffering a lower-body injury and did not return.
Brayden Schenn had a chance to end the game on a breakaway early in overtime but was denied by Condon's outstretched leg.
The Canadiens came close to finishing it off with several opportunities in tight late in the extra frame but couldn't put the puck into an open net.
NOTES: Montreal went with the same lineup as Wednesday night, leaving LW Tomas Fleischmann and D Mark Barberio as healthy scratches for a second and third straight game, respectively. ... The Flyers scratched C Sam Gagner and D Brandon Manning. ... The Canadiens announced that C David Desharnais will be out for three weeks with a broken foot suffered Monday against the Arizona Coyotes. ... The game opened the third set of back-to-back games in February for Philadelphia, which will visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. ... It was the Flyers' only visit to Montreal this season, the 94th in club history.