The Montreal Canadiens averted a disastrous second hypothetical loss to the non-playoff Philadelphia Flyers in two weeks, by beating them 3-2 on Saturday at the Bell Centre. More than that, on the strength of third-periods goals from Brendan Gallagher, Lane Hutson, and Nick Suzuki, who officially hit the point-per-game plateau over a whole season for the first time, the Habs took advantage of a New York Rangers regulation loss to further secure their first trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2021.
Game Recap
Facing a 1-0 deficit in the third period, the Canadiens came alive. Gallagher and Jake Evans, who were put together on a makeshift line with Josh Anderson out of the lineup (for family reasons), combined for a couple of quickfire chances a minute into the frame. After Evans missed on a feed from Gallagher, later on the same shift he fed Gallagher, who one-timed it home for his 20th goal, the first time since 2019-20 that he has hit the mark.
Related: Projected Lineups for the Flyers vs Canadiens – 4/5/25
Just over a minute later, defenseman Lane Hutson gave the Canadiens their first lead of the game. He beat Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson cleanly with a shot from a bad angle off the rush, as he inches closer to the franchise’s scoring record for a rookie defenseman. He now has 63 points to Chris Chelios’ 64 (1984-85).
Suzuki, who had an assist on Hutson’s goal, effectively put it away at the period’s halfway mark, with Juraj Slafkovsky off for boarding Sean Couturier. Despite being surrounded by three Flyers in the offensive zone, Suzuki was allowed to get off a quality shot for a back-breaking shorthanded goal that stood up as the game-winner. The marker gave him 27 goals and 56 assists (83 points) on the season.
The Flyers made something of a game of it late when they pulled within one with Ersson, who made 23 saves in the contest, off for the extra attacker. Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson got called for inadvertently shooting the puck into the stands, giving the Flyers a two-skater advantage. Tyson Foerster got them within one goal with 40 seconds left, after he knocked the stick out of Evans’ hands, got open, and scored off a pass from Travis Konecny. Ryan Poehling, who opened the scoring in the first, also got an assist on the play.
The late goal didn’t end up making a difference though, as the Canadiens held on for their fourth straight win, goalie Sam Montembeault making 21 saves in the contest. The now-37-30-9 Habs find themselves four points up on the ninth-place Rangers (same amount of games played). The Blue Jackets are now six back with a game in hand, ditto for the idle Detroit Red Wings. The Habs visit the Nashville Predators on Sunday, while the now-last-place-in-the-East Flyers, at 31-37-9, next visit the Rangers on Wednesday.
