Two days after Rick Tocchet pleaded for more from his team and pretty much apologized to fans, the Flyers answered their coach’s call in roller-coaster fashion.
They raced out to a 3-0 lead Tuesday night and then rallied from a 4-3 third-period deficit to beat the Canadiens, 5-4, in a shootout at Bell Centre.
Trevor Zegras scored the lone tally in the skills competition, putting him at a blistering 15 for 23 lifetime. He added two assists in regulation.
Tocchet’s club went off for three goals in the opening 7:50 minutes of the game. But Montreal sent the building into a frenzy with four second-period goals to erase a dominant first period by the Flyers.
Nikita Grebenkin, though, tied things up in the final stanza with his first career NHL goal.
The Flyers’ breakthrough offensively came after the team scored just three goals in a back-to-back set last weekend on home ice, resulting in two disappointing losses and some boos at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
“The fans pay a lot of money here to watch games,” Tocchet said Sunday night. “I don’t think we gave them a half-decent product the last two games. I think it was kind of a boring game. It falls on myself, I’ve got to get these guys to start to show some will. The Flyer fans, if they see some will, they’ll cheer you on. If they don’t, you’re going to get booed.”
In the first period Tuesday night, the Flyers (7-5-1) got a pair of goals from Bobby Brink and one from Cam York.
The club improved to 3-0 in the shootout and handed the Canadiens (9-3-1) their first loss after regulation. The Flyers lead the NHL with nine shootout wins over the last two seasons.
They picked up their first victory at Bell Centre since April 21, 2022. They were 0-3-1 in their previous four trips to Montreal and had been outscored 20-10.
Flyers forward Trevor Zegras nonchalantly coasted in to beat the goalie amidst a chorus of boos from the away crowd.
• The Flyers were desperate for an offensive jolt.
They came in allowing the NHL’s fifth-fewest goals per game at 2.58. But they also came in scoring just 2.58, tied for the league’s fifth-fewest per game.
Brink’s second goal was on the power play and so was York’s marker.
Grebenkin gave the Flyers a huge lift a little over midway through the third period when it was starting to look like the team’s big start was going to be totally wasted.
York (one goal, one assist) and Travis Konecny (two assists) joined Brink and Zegras with multi-point efforts.
The Flyers were able to find some offense without Tyson Foerster, who was placed on injured reserve Monday.
Nikita Grebenkin scored his first career NHL goal to pull the Flyers even with the Canadiens around midway through the third period.
• Dan Vladar did enough to bounce back from his first off night of the season. He converted 16 saves on 20 shots.
He made a pair of big stops in overtime and the Canadiens couldn’t crack him in the skills competition.
Montreal flipped the game in the second period. Their second and fourth goals came on the power play.
Lane Hutson made a brilliant move to set up Kirby Dach’s game-tying 3-3 goal. Ivan Demidov gave the Canadiens the lead with an absolute rip on the man advantage.
The Flyers put 42 shots on Montreal netminder Sam Montembeault, who stopped 38 of them.
• For the first time since signing with the Flyers in the offseason, Christian Dvorak faced his old club. The 29-year-old center played in all 82 games for the Canadiens last season, helping Montreal reach the playoffs.
Dvorak played the most minutes of any Flyers forward with 23:56.
• The Flyers are back in action Thursday when they visit the Predators (8 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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