Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist for the Montreal Canadiens in a 4-1 win against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
Mike Matheson had three assists, and Cayden Primeau made 29 saves for the Canadiens (28-32-12, 68 points), who have won three in a row.
Owen Tippett scored, and Samuel Ersson made 13 saves for the Flyers (36-28-10, 82 points), who have lost four of their past five games.
Suzuki gave Montreal a 1-0 lead at 12:58 of the first period. Juraj Slafkovsky quickly dished a seam pass through the crease to Suzuki, who swept a bouncing puck in from the side of the net for his 30th goal of the season.
Slafkovsky extended his point streak to nine games, tying the third-longest by a teenager born outside of North America in NHL history.
Jesse Ylonen scored his first goal since Nov. 16 to make it 2-0 at 16:46 of the first. Ersson stopped Jayden Struble’s shot from the left circle, but Ylonen was there in front to clean up the rebound.
The Flyers appeared to cut the deficit in half nearly two minutes into the third period off the skate of Garnet Hathaway on a delayed penalty, but the goal was overturned after video review for a distinct kicking motion.
Philadelphia again appeared to pull within one four minutes later when Morgan Frost’s bad-angle shot from the corner squeaked through Primeau’s pads. But Montreal challenged for offside and the call was overturned after video review showed Tyson Foerster preceded the puck into the zone.
Suzuki appeared to push it to 3-0 at 10:49 when he batted the puck past Ersson at the front of the net on what would have been the Canadiens’ first shot on goal of the period, but the goal was immediately waved off and the call stood after yet another video review.
Joel Armia scored an empty-net goal at 17:05 to extend the Canadiens’ lead to 3-0.
With Ersson pulled for the extra attacker, Tippett’s wrist shot from the left circle made it 3-1 at 18:59.
Jake Evans added another empty-net tally at 19:56 for the 4-1 final.
–Field Level Media
