Flyers offense comes alive in 6-4 win over Canadiens in first game since John Tortorella's firing

Jackie Spiegel, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Mar 27, 2025

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PHILADELPHIA — The new era of Flyers hockey started with a win.

After coach John Tortorella was fired Thursday morning, the Flyers defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 6-4. It snapped a six-game losing streak and gave the hometown team its second win in 13 games.

Brad Shaw earned his first win as the Flyers’ interim head coach, and the 19th of his career. He won 18 games as the interim bench boss with the New York Islanders in 2005-06.

The Flyers played the entire game a man down. Defenseman Cam York did not play a shift but sat on the bench. He was not made available postgame.

Matvei Michkov gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead just 1 minute, 55 seconds into the game. After a dump-in, where Travis Konecny kicked the puck deep on the wraparound, Sean Couturier skated behind the net and corralled the puck. He passed it to Konecny, who sent a quick pass to Michkov alone atop the crease for the goal.

Michkov’s 21st goal of the season tied Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks for the most by a rookie. For a while, it looked like he had a pair, and he almost scored another on a breakaway attempt but was stopped by Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes.

He did officially notch his second of the night in the third period to give the Flyers a 6-3 lead. Michkov stripped Montreal’s Mike Matheson of the puck in the neutral zone and scored his 22nd goal of the season, giving him the most goals on the season by a rookie. The Russian phenom had an empty-net chance in the waning seconds for the hat trick but hit the post.

Canadiens’ Alex Newhook tied the game up six minutes after Michkov’s first goal in the first period. Newhook carried the puck through the neutral zone and got Jamie Drysdale turned around before scoring with a snapshot from the left faceoff circle.

But less than 2 minutes later, Nick Deslauriers scored his first goal since March 16 of last season. Rodrigo Ābols outraced two Canadiens for the puck on a dump-in, and Olle Lycksell got the puck. He sent a quick pass to Deslauriers, and the rugged forward sent an even quicker shot on goal as Dobes was looking the wrong way.

For a while, it looked like Michkov had his second of the night in the first period, but it was changed to Couturier in the second. Jakob Pelletier got the puck along the boards and came around the right circle, dropping the puck to Michkov, who had just come off the bench. He snapped the puck from the edge of the circle that deflected in off the Flyers captain.

With the three points, Michkov moved ahead of Celebrini and inched closer to Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson for the points lead with a goal and an assist (54 points). Hutson had two assists to give him 56 points. The Sharks host the Toronto Maple Leafs later Thursday night.

Cole Caufield scored past Flyers goalie Sam Ersson from the goal line 2:15 into the third period to make it 3-2, but the Flyers kept coming.

Off an offensive-zone faceoff lost by Nick Cates, Bobby Brink got the puck back to Nick Seeler for a booming shot from the point. Tyson Foerster deflected the shot and then jammed home the rebound to restore the two-goal lead.

Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis challenged the Foerster goal for goaltender interference. But a video review determined Brink did not interfere, and on the ensuing power play, Couturier kept the puck on a two-on-one and scored past Dobes, giving the Flyers a 5-2 lead. The Flyers’ first goal in March on the man advantage snapped an 0-for-34 drought dating back to Feb. 27.

Christian Dvorak cut it to 5-3 before Michkov’s second of the night, and Patrik Laine scored with under 4 minutes to go to make it 6-4.

Breakaways

Forward Garnet Hathaway missed his 14th straight game with an upper-body injury. … Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen missed his eighth consecutive game with an upper-body injury. … Flyers prospect Alex Bump and Western Michigan University defeated Minnesota State 2-1 in double overtime to advance to the second round of the NCAA men’s ice hockey tournament.

Up next

The Flyers practice at noon on Friday before hosting the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.