Flyers beat Canadiens, 6-3, and as a result cannot tie record for most losses in franchise history

MONTREAL -- After weeks of great opportunities that led to nothing, the Flyers finally broke open a game by finding the back of the net, as they beat the Montreal Canadiens, 6-3, and avoided franchise infamy.

Oskar Lindblom, who has been on a 13-game goalless skid, scored his first since March 22. Travis Konecny, who has had five goalless skids of five games or more, including one of 19 games, scored his second in four games. Ivan Provorov, who went 25 games without a goal and was on a five-game skid coming into Thursday, has been one of the team’s most prolific shooters recently and finally scored. Morgan Frost, who previously had a 26-game goalless streak, netted his first in 11 games.

James van Riemsdyk, meanwhile, has scored recently but also has had a streak season. He had 11-game and 8-game goalless streaks but now has scored in back-to-back games. His two-goal performance tied him with Cam Atkinson, who is out with injury, as the team’s leading goal-scorers.

Together, these players helped the Flyers score six goals for the first time since their 6-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 14.

While the Flyers won the game, they by no means dominated. The two teams traded the puck back and forth for much of the game. Goalie Martin Jones played a big role in keeping the Flyers in it, making saves on breakaways. He also made a big save on the first goal of the game, but the puck slid away from him, keeping the play alive. Brendan Gallagher grabbed the puck and pushed it toward Brendan Hoffman to record the questionable score.

“There’s a mistake that happened, and you know, obviously, I think the big thing for us is we didn’t let that derail us,” interim coach Mike Yeo said.

The call did not matter in the end, and the Flyers emerged victorious, snapping a six-game skid. With the win, they can’t tie the fanchise-record of 48 losses, set by the 2006-07 team. The current team is at 43 with only four games left.

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Over six months, Noah Cates’ team played 42 college hockey games, Ronnie Attard’s played 39, and Bobby Brink’s played 41. Now, in less than a month, Cates has played 11 NHL games, Attard has played 10, and Brink has played five. As can be expected, the college kids look tired.

Yet through their exhaustion, the three of them found a way to give Flyers fans something positive to focus on. Attard had a perfect pass to Konecny to set him up for a breakaway goal. Brink recorded two assists. Cates continued to make smart plays, and while he hasn’t been as effective on the forecheck as he was to start, the team trusts him. He also recorded an assist.

“It’s hard to adjust to especially the schedule and the pace of play, the caliber of players, and they’re doing a good job,” Konecny said.

The past few weeks have been a study in what not to do on defense, with the most notable moment coming during Connor Sheary’s wide-open goal in the Washington Capitals game. The Flyers have done a great job of leaving players open or letting them get between them and the goal, and the Canadiens received a similar gift.

In the first period, the Canadiens rushed the net four times. Each time, they would have had a wide-open look at the net if they connected on the pass. But the Canadiens bailed them out by missing the connection each time.

Why did they get so many opportunities?

“Because we go on the power play,” Yeo said.

The Flyers may have had three power plays, but it did not look like it. Their power play has been bad all season, but Thursday night, it was like it didn’t exist.

Instead of getting set up in the offensive zone and passing the puck around looking for good shots, the Flyers and the Canadiens traded breakaways.

“Which is not the best recipe for success on the power play,” Provorov said.

While the Canadiens didn’t score on any of their shorthanded attempts, they used the momentum to score not long after. The Flyers had one shot on goal on the first power play. They improved to four on the second, but had none on the third.

“It’s one thing that we’re not scoring, but we’re actually giving up more chances,” Yeo said. “So that’s got to stop.”

The Flyers return home to play the Penguins at 4 p.m. Sunday.