The Flyers made it to the next stop on their road trip, heading up to Montreal for their second matchup of the season against the Canadiens, and were able to take a 2-0 lead in the season series, and stop their winless streak at three games, as they delivered a solid showing just about from top to bottom and cruised to a 4-1 win over the Habs.
The Basics
First period: 19:00- Alexandre Texier (Evans, Anderson). 19:39- Carl Grunstrom (Tippett, Couturier)
Second period: 6:26- Trevor Zegras (Konecny, Andrae). 19:10- Bobby Brink (Michkov)
Third period: 18:25- Travis Konecny (Dvorak, Couturier)
SOG: 21 (PHI) – 22 (MTL)
Some Takeaways
Sleepier start… until it wasn’t
We might recall that, back when these two teams met for the first time this season back in November, the first period was a truly wild one, seeing the Flyers pouring on three goals before they even hit the eight minute mark in the first period on the way to a win in the shootout, and it made for an exciting start, but that wasn’t a level the Flyers were able to hit through this evening’s early goings. It was, all in all, a sleepier start to things, with a lot of back and forth but not a whole lot generated in the way of dangerous chances (neither team would be able to break 10 shots on goal in the period, even with two cracks at a power play for the Flyers). It was looking like we would just coast into the first intermission still scoreless, but the final minute of the period saw things finally break open — the Canadiens were able to force a turnover in the neutral zone and capitalize on their rush chance, but the Flyers got that one right back with Carl Grundstrom cashing in on a great setup by Owen Tippett with just 21 seconds remaining in the period. This will go down as yet another game in which the Flyers have had to come back from behind, but it was about as strong of a response as they could have mustered, and that certainly counts for something.
The power play falters
The Flyers were able to bring a nice bit of scoring pop across the board in this one, but notably where that offensive flash was lagging behind was, yet again, on the power play. The Flyers got those two opportunities in the first period and then a short 5-on-4 which then turned into a 4-on-3 in the third period after Trevor Zegras and Josh Anderson took their battling over the line, and they weren’t able to really pile on the dangerous chances across those three looks. They had a couple of good flurries, not to be overlooked, and came away with four scoring chances, but they just weren’t able to get into just the right position to bury one of those chances.
It’s been tough going for the Flyers on the man-advantage, as they’re sitting eighth from the bottom of the league standings with just a 15.6 percent conversion rate, and while they were able to get by in this one without putting away any of those chances, they’re going to need more from these units at some point.
Ristolainen returns
Perhaps the biggest headline coming into this game was the news that Rasmus Ristolainen would be returning to action at least, getting in for his first game since last March. It seemed like the plan was to ease him into things a little more gently, managing his minutes as he slid in on that third pair alongside Nick Seeler, but Ristolainen, showing no rush from the jump in this one, quickly earned himself a more substantial usage.
Right from the early goings, Ristolainen was finding ways to make an impact — on one of his first few shifts in the game, he blew up Juraj Slafkovsky on a hard but clean hit, which drew the attention of the Canadiens’ Ivan Demidov in retaliation, but Ristolained wasn’t goaded into a fight, and instead drew a penalty, took the power play for his teammates, and kept it moving. His physicality was of course on full display, but he was able to come up too with a few more subtle positive defensive plays, as his timing seemed not to be suffering any rust either (and this was a nice boost for the Flyers on the penalty kill, in particular).
All told, Ristolainen recorded just under 20 minutes of ice time in this one, and held up well under those minutes — even by the end of the third period, his legs seemed to be holding up, his energy level not dipping dramatically. Of course, the bigger question will be how he’s able to keep that rolling as he gets more and more games before the holiday break, but this was just about as positive of a showing as we might have hoped to see from Ristolainen after such a long layoff.
Zegras stays hot
Tonight marked the 300th game of Trevor Zegras’s NHL career, and he certainly delivered a standout performance in this milestone. Zegras brought some noticeable jump in this one, creating a couple of good looks and ultimately picking up what would be the game winning goal on what feels like, at this point, a prototypical Zegras play — showing some confidence in calling for the puck on the rush before they even really got moving, and then beating the goalie cleanly one-on-one to pick up his 14th goal of the season.
If you’ve watched any of our last four games, you’ve seen Trevor Zegras score a goal.#PHIvsMTL | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/zIQgfZ9xU3
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) December 17, 2025
There was a bit of a stressful moment that materialized in the third period when he got dumped on a late hit and seemed to be in some discomfort on the bench, but he seemed able to shake it off and was right back out there for the next power play (and then quickly off it, as he took a roughing penalty, but we digress). All in all, it was another stellar showing from Zegras in a
Line shuffling pays off
The Flyers made some notable changes to their forward lines in this one, and those two changes in the top-9 paid dividends pretty quickly. It was the newly formed line of Grundstrom, Couturier, and Tippett that was able to create the goal that got the team on the board in the first period, and it was the new combination of Matvei Michkov and Bobby Brink that was able to connect for the team’s third goal of the night.
It was a lucky play in some ways, as they were able to capitalize on a mistake made by the Canadiens’ goaltender behind the net, but equally it was a hard-working play, as Michkov was able to crash in and force that turnover, making the quick reaction play to steal that puck away and chip it out front to the crashing in Brink. It was a huge goal for Brink, who, along with Noah Cates, have been trying to find their games again now that they’re without Tyson Foerster, and Michkov gave them the jolt that the coaching staff was surely hoping for. We’ll see how things go for them as they’re given more time together, if they’re given more time together, but this was an encouraging first bit if work between them.
Holding on
The Flyers hit the second intermission holding on to a 3-1 lead, and with a 9-0 record when leading after two periods, they seemed to have the momentum behind them to carry them through the third period, but the Canadiens weren’t going to make things easy on them. They put up a dangerous looking furry of chances in the opening couple of minutes of the period, and were able to outshoot them 12-3 across the whole of the frame, tilting the ice back in their favor and having the Flyers looking scrambled at times. Here, the solid play of Dan Vladar was the difference maker for them — he seemed locked in from the start, and was able to deliver an even and confidently solid level of play from start to finish in this one. The skaters may have built up that cushion in the first two periods, but Vladar critical in holding on to it. He did, all told, exactly what the team needed from him, and it all made for quite an impressive complete team effort to pull off this win.
All stats via Natural Stat Trick and the NHL.
