Interim head coach Brad Shaw was hoping the Flyers would play the role of spoiler Saturday night at a lively Bell Centre.
For two periods, it looked like they might. But the Flyers were unable to build on a 1-0 lead and fell to the Canadiens, 3-2.
Ryan Poehling scored his career-high 12th goal and eighth in the last 11 games with a first-period marker.
Montreal finally responded 1:24 minutes into the third period and then took the lead just 1:16 minutes later. It added a shorthanded goal a little over midway through the frame to pretty much put the Flyers away.
Tyson Foerster scored with 40 seconds left to make it interesting. The goal came with the Flyers’ net emptied for the two-man advantage on a power play.
The Flyers (31-37-9) saw a three-game winning streak come to an end, dropping to 3-1-0 under Shaw. They haven’t won more than three straight since Feb. 6-12 of last season, when they won four in a row.
Saturday night’s loss officially eliminated the Flyers from postseason contention. They’ve gone five straight seasons without a playoff berth, matching the franchise’s longest drought.
The Flyers went 1-2-0 against the Canadiens (37-30-9). The win came nine days ago, a 6-4 decision at the Wells Fargo Center after John Tortorella was fired in the morning.
Montreal holds the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot by four points.
“If we can go in and spoil somebody’s party, there are a few things in hockey that feel really good, that’s one of them,” Shaw said Friday after practice. “It’s fun to go in and be the spoiler. It’s fun to go in and take the life out of a building. That’s a hard thing to do this time of year.”
• In a showdown of Calder Trophy candidates, Lane Hutson scored the Canadiens’ go-ahead 2-1 goal with a ridiculous shot and Matvei Michkov had a six-game point streak halted. He put up four goals and seven assists over that run.
On Saturday night, Michkov had three shots and a minus-2 mark in 23:04 minutes.
Hutson, a 21-year-old defenseman, is the likely front-runner for the Calder Trophy. He leads all rookies with 63 points (six goals, 57 assists) and is playing big minutes for a team that could be headed to the postseason.
The 20-year-old Michkov leads all NHL rookies with 24 goals to go along with 58 points.
• Samuel Ersson was very good over the first two periods before allowing three goals in the final stanza.
The 25-year-old didn’t play the puck well on the sequence that led to Nick Suzuki’s shorthanded marker.
Ersson made 23 saves on 26 shots. In his last 12 appearances, Ersson has gone 3-6-2 and allowed 46 goals.
Montreal netminder Sam Montembeault stopped 21 of the Flyers’ 23 shots.
The Flyers fell to the Canadiens, 3-2, Saturday night in their first loss under Brad Shaw.
• The Flyers have five games left and could finish fourth to last in the NHL standings. But they’re also just three points back of the Ducks and Penguins, who are tied for the league’s eighth-fewest points.
So there’s still potential for a lot of movement when it comes to the 2025 NHL draft lottery odds.
• Karsen Dorwart, who the Flyers signed a week ago, made his NHL debut. The 22-year-old center played on the Flyers’ fourth line with Nicolas Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway.
The Michigan State product had two shots and two hits in 10:32 minutes.
Dorwart’s parents Gregg and Janelle and sister Kalli were in attendance to see his debut. He became the ninth player from Oregon to ever make the NHL.
“I was blessed to have so many influential people that helped me during my time there and just growing up,” the Sherwood native said Wednesday. “They deserve all the credit in the world to help me get to the next point.”
Karsen Dorwart took the rookie lap ahead of his NHL debut with the Flyers.
• The Flyers are back in action Wednesday when they visit the Rangers at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m. ET/TNT).
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