Habs put a drubbing to the Flyers in 9-3 win Flyers fall two points back of the Capitals for second wild card

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In Montreal, the Philadelphia Flyers late season swoon continued on Tuesday night in a 9-3 drubbing at the hands of the Canadiens.

This was over quickly with the Habs taking a 1-0 lead in the opening stanza, and then piling on with five more in the middle frame for a 6-1 lead headed to the third period.

At that point, the Flyers scored three so what goals in the third, but the Canadiens matched each of them in the final frame.

Juraj Slafkovsky collected the hats on his career NHL hat trick in the win.

“I’m a little sick and it got me good, it got my throat,” Slafkovsky said. “It can stay like this if it’s every game.”

Sam Montembeault made 33 saves in the win.

Montreal moved to 30-36-12, snapping a three -game skid.

Slafkovsky potted his first of the game at 1:05 of the first opening stanza, the puck glanced off his skate for the marker.

Slafkovsky notched his double at 8:43 of the middle frame for a 2-0 lead to the Habs.

Brendan Gallagher extended the lead to 3-0 midway through the second, scoring off a tip in.

Slafkovsky collected his hats at 11:22, scoring off a breakaway for a 4-0 advantage.

“It’s embarrassing, obviously,” Flyers captain Sean Couturier said. “In the second (period) we just gave up a lot of odd-man rushes, weren’t responsible defensively, and they made us pay.”

Montreal kept the offense rolling when Josh Anderson ballooned the lead to 5-0 at 12:42.

“We just couldn’t play in our D-zone and they capitalized on a lot of their chances, and we just weren’t good enough,” the Flyers’ Travis Sanheim said.

Christian Dvorak, stretched the advantage to 6-0 at 15:27.

The Flyers dropped to 36-32-11 off their eighth straight loss.

“I’m not questioning their effort,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “I just think we’ve lost ourselves in managing games and I think some guys may feel it a little bit because they want to try to get us out of this. But I don’t question the care, I don’t question the effort because it’s been a strong group all year long.

“I’m frustrated for them because this was rock bottom tonight for us, and I hate to see us at this time of year be playing this way after all the good minutes we’ve put in throughout the year.”

The Flyers are two points back of the Washington Capitals for the second wild in the Eastern Conference.

The third period was a blur of goals with the Flyers scoring three to make the final score look some what more palatable.

Ryan Poehling broke the scoreless run for the Flyers to make it 6-1 at 4:54 of the third.

Dvorak collected his double midway through the third for a 7-1 score.

“The boys played well, so that helped a lot,” Dvorak said. “It was a good team win and I didn’t feel too bad. My game legs felt a little better as the game went on, so it was just a really fun game to be a part of.”

Gallagher collected his own double at 11:19 for an 8-1 count. .

Joel Farabee and Erik Johnson added the the real lipstick goals in the 16th and 18th minutes of the third for an 8-3 score.

Joel Armia replied for the Habs with their final goal at 18:17 for the 9-3 final count on the scoreboard..

“Too bad we’re out of the running (for the Stanley Cup Playoffs) this year, but it’s good that we’re building our game,” Slafkovsky said.

Samuel Ersson got the start, yielding five goals, making 12 saves before getting the hook in the middle frame.

Ivan Fedotov made nine saves in a mop up role.

It was ugly after the game. All the Flyers were reportedly seated in the chairs, in uniform.

“They need to answer the questions,” Tortorella said.