Flyers losing streak extends to six games with a shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens

MONTREAL — The Flyers were 1.9 seconds away from ending their five-game winless streak with a 4-3 lead in regulation against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

Then, winger Cole Caufield happened.

Caufield evened the score, 4-4, on a one-timer at 6-on-5 to send the game to sudden death. But neither team found the back of the net in overtime, leading the Flyers to their first shootout of the season. Nick Suzuki scored the lone goal in the shootout to give the Canadiens the 5-4 victory and extend the Flyers’ winless drought to six games.

“I’m not leaving a building upset with a hockey club when they play that hard,” coach John Tortorella said. “I’m not going to leave the building upset. We’ve got to do a better job coaching as far as positioning and just teach them how to manage hockey games.”

Center Kevin Hayes scored the initial go-ahead goal in the third period. His shot from a distance made its way through traffic and past Canadiens goalie Jake Allen. But his efforts were not enough to win the game in regulation for the Flyers.

Meanwhile, the Flyers injury woes remain relentless. Forward Scott Laughton left the game early after taking a hard hit in the third period. The Flyers already were missing winger Travis Konecny, who was ruled out before the game with an upper-body injury sustained against the Boston Bruins.

“Not sure what’s going on, but obviously [stinks] any time you lose guys and especially key guys that are that are important to our hockey team, not only on the ice, but in the locker room as well,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “We’re grinding and we’ve got to find a way to win some hockey games.”

With Konecny out, the Flyers needed someone to step up and take over for their leading scorer. Winger Owen Tippett proved to be that player, racking up two goals. He tallied the Flyers’ second of the night, scoring through a screen off the rush.

But he didn’t stop there. As the Flyers struggled to win their faceoffs through the first two periods of the game (37%), Tippett headed to the dot to take an offensive-zone draw with four minutes remaining in the second period. He shot the puck right off the faceoff and scored to tie the game, 3-3. He also attempted to set up defenseman Ivan Provorov for a goal during overtime while falling to the ice. Tippett now has seven points in his last seven games (four goals, three assists).

“We knew that they were going to go D off the bottom of the circle with two forwards in front,” Tippett said of his faceoff goal. “Coach just said put it on net and have our netfront forward go to it. It’s not very often you get it clean like that. I think it just caught [Sean Monahan] a bit.”

After jumping out to an early two-goal lead, the Flyers let the Canadiens cut the margin to one when center Christian Dvorak cleaned up a loose puck four minutes into the first period. But the Flyers made it difficult on themselves to rebound, as winger Kieffer Bellows took a high-sticking penalty with four minutes remaining in the frame.

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Provorov nearly scored on his own net on the penalty kill, but the Flyers challenged for goalie interference and the officials overturned the goal. But matters took another downward turn for the Flyers when winger Scott Laughton committed an interference penalty to put the Canadiens on the two-man advantage. Caufield capitalized on the Flyers’ mistakes and tied the game, 2-2, on a one-timer from the right circle. The Flyers’ penalty kill has now gone 5-for-14 in their last five games.

Before Saturday’s game, defenseman Travis Sanheim noted that he needed to start creating more offensively and joining the rush. He put his words into action in the first period, jumping up into the slot to receive a backhanded, below-the-goal-line feed from winger Scott Laughton. Sanheim tapped the puck past Allen to put the Flyers up, 1-0.

Roughly two minutes later, Sanheim helped kill a play in the Flyers’ zone, putting his team back on the attack. He pushed the puck ahead with one hand on his stick to winger Owen Tippett, who carried the puck through the neutral zone and fired a wrist shot bar-down from the top of the right faceoff circle past Allen.

“Just a couple of rushes that ended up working out in my favor,” Sanheim said. “That’s my game. I’ve got to get up there. I’ve got to use my legs and my skating and my reads. Was fortunate on both of those rushes.”

The Flyers return home on Monday to face off against the Calgary Flames at 7 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia).