The Canadian continued to follow the same recipe and the result was once again encouraging.
David Savard scored the first goal of the game, Jake Allen stopped 24 shots and the Montreal club defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 on Friday at the Wells Fargo Center.
Savard’s goal was the 10th by a Habs defenseman in seven games since the All-Star Game break. The Canadian scored the first goal in each of those games.
The Canadian’s power play also generated a goal on two occasions against the Flyers, increasing its efficiency to 31.3% during this sequence.
The Canadiens now have a 5-2-0 record since being released from the All-Star game.
Jesse Ylönen amassed a goal and an assist, while Chris Tierney, in his first game with his new team, Nick Suzuki and Josh Anderson also moved the ropes for the Canadian (25-29-4). Mike Hoffman had two assists.
Tierney was acquired from the Florida Panthers on waivers on Friday. He replaced Joel Armia in the formation of the Habs. Armia didn’t finish Tuesday’s game against the New Jersey Devils because he “didn’t feel well.”
Owen Tippett and Ivan Provorov scored in the third period for the Flyers (23-27-10), who have won just one of their last seven games (1-5-1). Morgan Frost had two assists and Carter Hart stopped 26 shots.
The Canadiens will be back in action on Saturday, when they host the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre.
More organized than its rival
After a lackluster start to the game, the Canadian picked up momentum on a power play midway through the period.
He finally capitalized with 2:10 to go in the first period. The Habs bottled up the Flyers in their territory, then a few seconds after a short clearance, Savard found himself alone in front of Hart. The defender pulled off a nice fake and beat the Flyers goaltender to the shield side.
Tierney came back with 4.8 seconds left in the first period. Michael Pezzetta collected the disc behind the net, then joined his new teammate in front. Tierney hit the mark by shooting on reception.
The Canadian widened the gap to 3-0 at 7:12 of the second period, during a power play. Suzuki attempted a cross pass to Josh Anderson. Provorov clumsily deflected the puck into the back of the Flyers net.
The home team got a few chances to get back into the game before the second intermission, but Allen closed the door on the Flyers.
Allen snuffed out an outnumbered attack by overpowering a shot from Tony DeAngelo. He also made a spectacular save against Scott Laughton following a turnover from Evgenii Dadonov.
The Flyers started the third period strong and Tippett set the tone by surprising Allen nine seconds into the game.
Tippett also threatened a few minutes later, but Allen frustrated him twice in quick succession.
Ylönen stopped the Flyers’ momentum at 6:26. He deflected a long shot from Justin Barron and restored the Habs’ three-goal lead.
Anderson joined the party by scoring following a fine effort by Rafaël Harvey-Pinard at 12:12.
Provorov beat Allen with 1:28 to go, but there were few spectators left in the arena to celebrate the goal.