Flyers end three-game losing streak with 4-1 rout of the Montreal Canadiens

MONTREAL ― Entering the small visitor’s locker room at the Bell Centre two seasons ago, every stall was filled with bodies as the Flyers were amid a disastrous ending to the 2023-24 season.

On Tuesday night, and for the second and final time this season, smiles crossed crowded rooms as the Flyers beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1. They also won 5-4 in a shootout on Nov. 4 in Quebec.

It is just their third win of December, but the 3-2-3 record isn’t truly indicative of how they’ve been playing of late. Yes, the Flyers snapped a three-game losing streak, but each loss came after regulation. The win extended their point streak to five games.

» READ MORE: Flyers’ Rasmus Ristolainen to make season debut Tuesday in Montreal

For the 22nd time in 32 games, the Flyers trailed 1-0. And for the 12th time in those 22 games, they won (12-6-4). It is also their 13th comeback win.

How did they get into a hole this time? Travis Konecny fed a standing Christian Dvorak above the Canadiens’ blue line, and the center tried to shovel it into the offensive zone, but it hit Montreal defenseman Alexandre Carrier and went the other way.

Montreal had a three-on-two that turned into a four-on-two with forward Alexandre Texier firing the wrister past Dan Vladař from the high slot to take a 1-0 lead.

But, as commonly said here, the hockey Gods do giveth and taketh, and the same line gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead.

“You make a mistake, and you don’t have your head down. And it’s happened a lot this year where we’ve kind of … you can’t make that play, but they come out, and they produce the next period, or whatever,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “So, guys have done a nice job when it comes to that.”

Konecny knocked the puck away from Ivan Demidov in the Flyers’ end, and defenseman Emil Andrae got the puck and chipped it to Trevor Zegras as he and Konecny broke out two-on-one. After a give-and-go, Zegras got the puck back and fired it five-hole past Montreal goaltender Jacob Fowler.

“If you’re going to give one up, you’ve got to get one,” Zegras said. “That’s kind of the mindset, mentality that we have. Obviously, we don’t want to be giving them goals or odd man rushes, so something we’ve got to clean up for sure.”

Zegras leads the Flyers in goals with 14, and now has 33 points — one more than his point total in 57 games last season for the Anaheim Ducks. The New York native is on a four-game goal streak and a five-game point streak with seven points.

Tocchet switched two of his lines. Winger Carl Grundström moved up to play with Owen Tippett and Sean Couturier, and Matvei Michkov shifted to the line of Noah Cates and Bobby Brink.

“I think it was a little more balanced,” Tocchet said postgame. “I saw some more juice. I thought Tipp had a really good game tonight. Tipp was going tonight. Obviously, Grunny [had a] goal, and he skates. He can skate, and I think that helps Coots out. Yeah, I thought it was a good switch for us.”

It paid off twofold.

First, Grundström tied the game 1-1 just 39 seconds after the Canadiens opened the scoring with a minute remaining in the first period.

Couturier got the puck on the right wing and sent a leading pass down to Tippett in the circle. The winger then sent the puck across to Grundström as he crashed the net backdoor.

“I try to bring a lot of energy to the team and play physical and be direct. So I think that’s my style,” Grundström told The Inquirer after the morning skate, adding that the Flyers’ style fits his game well overall.

» READ MORE: Flyers winger Carl Grundström brings ‘a lot of energy’ to the ice, and it’s paying off

Since re-entering the lineup on Dec. 9, the Swede has three-two goals and an assist in five games.

Then in the second period, Fowler went out of his net to play a dump-in. He waited behind the goal and ended up leaving it — right for Michkov. The Russian picked up the puck and fed Brink in the slot for the easy goal.

Brink now has nine goals on the season, three shy of his career-high set last season in 79 games.

Rasmus Ristolainen returned to the lineup with authority. Playing in his first game since March 11 after undergoing surgery on a right triceps tendon rupture, he didn’t miss a beat.

“It’s a long time, a lot of work, a lot of hours, obviously, and, you know, it’s fun to feel really good,” Ristolainen said of returning to the lineup. “Obviously, the team’s playing pretty good and excited to play with the guys.”

Tocchet talked about Ristolainen’s big shot, and he almost scored in his first seconds of action in more than 280 days. On his first shift, the big blueliner sent a point shot on goal before sending another off the crossbar later.

Across 19 minutes, 18 seconds of ice time, Ristolainen had three shot attempts, two blocked shots, one takeaway, and three hits. But none of the hits were bigger than the one that sent Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovský flying at center ice in the first period. And for the record, he wasn’t searching out the physicality early in the game.

“Phenomenal. Double nickels,” Zegras said of Ristolainen, who wears 55. “He’s an absolute moose out there. And that was an awesome hit that he had.”

Demidov took exception to the hit, and Ristolainen drew a penalty as the Russian winger kept cross-checking him away from the play.

Tocchet thought the defensive corps as a whole played well, but pointed out that Ristolainen “was really good for us.”

“Yeah, he brought some physicality, especially in the first period, that big hit,” Couturier said. “Made his presence felt, and it’s nice to see. He played well, and he jumped right back into it, playing his physical style of play, simple. [He] just brings a little more size to, I think, on the backend there. So it’s nice to see he’s doing well.”

Konecny added an empty-netter for his ninth of the season. … Defenseman Ty Murchison was loaned back to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League to make room for Ristolainen on the roster. … Zegras played in his 300th NHL game. … Vladař was masterful, especially in the third period with the Canadiens pushing. He made a toe save on Slafkovský from the right circle and then slid across to stop Lane Hutson on the rebound. The Czech netminder stopped 21 of 22 shots, including 12 in the third period. … The Flyers went 0-for-3 on the power play.

The Flyers head to Buffalo, N.Y., to take on the Sabres on Thursday (7:30 p.m., ESPN+, Hulu).