The Philadelphia Flyers were defeated by the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2, at Bell Centre on Tuesday night. Montreal took control early in the game, scoring twice in the first period and maintaining their lead for the rest of the match.
Cole Caufield opened the scoring for Montreal after a turnover by Sean Couturier led to a 3-on-2 rush. “After crisp passes from Nick Suzuki and Lane Hutson, Caufield one-timed home a shot from the left circle.” Florian Xhekaj extended Montreal’s lead at 9:58 with a goal assisted by Tyler Thorpe and Luke Tuch.
In the second period, Nicolas Deslauriers fought with Florian Xhekaj, which seemed to energize the Flyers. Anthony Richard scored for Philadelphia at 11:11 following a forced turnover by Dennis Gilbert. However, Nick Suzuki responded quickly for Montreal at 16:05 with help from Juraj Slafkovsky and Caufield.
Rodrigo Abols drew a double-minor penalty against Arber Xhekaj late in the game. On the resulting power play, Owen Tippett scored from below the left dot. “Christian Dvorak and Travis Sanheim picked up the apples.”
Rookie Alex Bump showed improvement as the game progressed but did not register any points despite several attempts on goal during his 15:20 of ice time.
Jett Luchanko, selected by Philadelphia in the first round of the 2024 draft, played 15:39 minutes and contributed two hits but struggled on faceoffs and turned over the puck during a key power play late in regulation.
Goaltender Samuel Ersson started for Philadelphia, allowing two goals on nine shots before Aleksei Kolosov took over in net for the second period. On Montreal’s side, Jakub Dobes stopped all nine shots he faced before being replaced by Kaapo Kahkonen.
Team captain Sean Couturier was on ice for more than 20 minutes but made an early mistake that led to Montreal’s opening goal. He had one shot on goal and won eight out of seventeen faceoffs.
Defenseman Travis Sanheim logged over 26 minutes of playing time with four blocked shots and contributed an assist on Tippett’s power play goal.
