Flyers Rally Through Change, Beat Habs 6-4 in Shaw’s Interim Debut

On a night that was certainly unexpected, the Philadelphia Flyers played one of their best games of the recent stretch, beating the Montreal Canadiens 6-4.

The game comes following John Tortorella’s dismissal. Brad Shaw, the team’s interim head coach, took over the reins and led the Flyers to their first win since March 18th in the shootout against the Lightning. It was Philadelphia’s first regulation win in March. The last time they won in regulation was February 25th against the Penguins.

Matvei Michkov and Sean Couturier both scored twice, with Tyson Foerster and Nicolas Deslauriers also scoring for the Flyers.

Cam York was benched for the second-straight game—the Flyers played with five defensemen.

With the win, the Flyers improve to 29-36-9 for the season.

Read More: Daniel Briere Talks Firing John Tortorella

Michkov Strikes First, Deslauriers and Couturier Follow

Who would have thought?

Matvei Michkov (21) scored within the first two minutes from right in front of the net in the first game without John Tortorella. The Flyers’ rookie had a helluva game, which will show later on.

The Canadiens answered the call six minutes later as Alex Newhook (14) evened the score at one. Lane Hutson (50), one of Michkov’s Calder competitors, earned the secondary assist on the score.

The Flyers found their answer a bit over two minutes later as Nicolas Deslauriers (1) regained the lead for the Flyers. It was Deslauriers’ first goal since March 19th, 2024.

Just over a minute later, Sean Couturier (13) extended the Flyers’ lead to two. It was initially awarded as Michkov’s second tally of the game, but a scoring change later determined that the puck last touched Couturier. Michkov (32) was then credited with the primary assist.

The Flyers would take their 3-1 lead into the first break. No scoring in the second period took the lead into the third period as well. The third period made up for the lack of scoring in the second.

Read More: PhHN Daily: Flyers Recall a Goalie, Ink Prospect to ELC & More

Six Total Goals in the Third

Cole Caufield (34) started the scoring in the third period. The Canadiens’ star gave them a jolt of life, bringing them back within one with plenty of time left in the game–17:45 to be exact. Shockingly enough, Hutson (51) earned the secondary assist on the score.

Just about eight minutes later, Tyson Foerster (17) would score his first goal in 14 games, giving the Flyers some much-needed cushion. The Canadiens would challenge for goalie interference on the score, but the failed attempt led to a delay of game penalty, putting the Flyers on the power play.

After 34 failed attempts on the man-advantage in March, the Flyers finally got their first power-play goal of the month, with Couturier (14) getting his second goal of the game.

Philly had a 5-2 lead with less than 10 minutes to play.

Christian Dvorak (10) gave the Canadiens life again, as his score came just over a minute after Couturier’s, and made the deficit closable for Montreal.

However, Michkov (22) made a great play at the blueline to take the puck away from Montreal, led a breakaway with Couturier on his right side, and fired the puck through the pads of Jakub Dobes. The Flyers, once again, had a three-goal lead.

Patrick Laine (18) would bring the Canadiens back within two, but they could not close the gap.

The Canadiens would empty the net, but the Flyers would not score. Travis Konecny made a great play to set up Michkov for the hat-trick on the empty net, but the rookie would hit the post rather than the net. It did lead to a pretty great reaction from the Philly bench.

The game ended with a 6-4 final score, and the Flyers got their first regulation win in March.

What’s Next for the Flyers

The Flyers will practice on Friday, then return to the Wells Fargo Center when they host the Buffalo Sabres at 1:00 p.m.

Read More: OPINION: Tortorella is Gone, David Carle Should Be the Next Flyers Coach

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