The Flyers had their will called out Sunday night in Philly, then responded Tuesday night in Montreal with a downhill onslaught.
They made it a point to get to the front of the net, because they couldn't last weekend against Toronto and Calgary, and immediately built up a 3-0 lead from it.
Bobby Brink redirected a Travis Sanheim shot between the hashmarks for goal No. 1 – in a sequence kick-started by Sean Couturier winning a race for the puck into the corner and then setting up a screen of Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault – then cleaned up a rebound at the top of the crease that bounced out from a Trevor Zegras shot off the pad while on the power play for Brink's second on the night.
In between, Cam York piled on while on a 5-on-3 advantage, teeing up on a one-time pass from Zegras that caught everyone in the Bell Centre off guard when the surging forward tossed the puck over with his back completely turned away from the play.
It looked in the bag. The Flyers were outskating and drastically outshooting the Canadiens by the end of one, 12-2, looking well on the way to a blowout, and with the message from head coach Rick Tocchet that they needed to be stronger at the net front appearing well-received.
Then the second period came, and everything went backwards.
The Flyers fell into penalty trouble, the Canadiens found a second wind, and suddenly, it was Montreal leading 4-3 heading into period 3.
It took Nikita Grebenkin's first NHL goal for the tie to force overtime, and then Zegras and goalie Dan Vladar coming up clutch in the shootout to fully recover from the stunner, but they did recover.
The Flyers won, 5-4. They got back in the win column, albeit through a lot of "hold your breath" moments, but toughened up their game in the way they needed to so that they could trend upward again.
They also took the win with a part of the game that the Flyers notoriously haven't been good at for what has felt like more than a decade.
On that, and a few more thoughts, about the Flyers following Tuesday night's win…
They're a good shootout team now?
Zegras took his time skating up to Montembeault in the shootout, saw his opening, then made his charge in with some rapid stickhandling.
Montembeault froze up watching the puck, and Zegras took advantage, quick to slip a shot through his five-hole to put the Flyers ahead.
Vladar, down the other end of the ice, held off Ivan Demidov, Cole Caufield, and then Nick Suzuki to get the Flyers to the finish line with the full two points.
Don't look now, but the Flyers are a perfect 3-0 in the shootout so far this season.
Zegras' creativity and skill when he has the puck on his stick has been a real shot in the arm for that, and has also rubbed off on other Flyers skaters like Brink and Matvei Michkov, who have been seen practicing moves with him after practices in Voorhees.
Just as big of a difference have been the goaltenders, too. Sam Ersson has always tended to do well when facing opposing skaters one-on-one, and shut the door in the Flyers' first two shootout trips against the Islanders and Penguins at home before going on Injured Reserve.
Vladar finally had his turn Tuesday night, and used his massive 6'5" frame in net to take away space and do the same.
The Flyers did have their looks to end it in OT, but for the first time in forever (really since the NHL brought in the shootout as a tiebreaker 20 years ago), there's a confidence there that they'll be fine if they have to go to a shootout.
And that starts with Zegras' talent.
"He's got about three different ways to score," Tocchet said of Zegras in the shootout postgame. "And even then, we got a pretty good shootout team. [Michkov], he's a good shootout guy. We're pretty good there, and the goalie, I mean, that was a good thing by Vlady to come up big for us."
And long-term, dependability in the shootout could end up being a massive difference in the standings should the Flyers be in a race, because while one point always helps, the teams that manage to take two, one way or another, are the ones that get to keep playing into April.
He can't be stopped.#PHIvsMTL | @fwwebb pic.twitter.com/KVGM2tPEuc
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 5, 2025
Z can see
Sticking with Zegras, he had two assists along with the shootout winner Tuesday night for his third multi-point game as a Flyer.
He's at 15 points (4 goals, 11 assists) and a plus-1 rating through 13 games, and in the 10 games where Zegras has registered at least a point, the Flyers are 7-2-1.
So far, Zegras has improved how the Flyers move the puck, which has had a positive effect on their power play and just how they operate on offense across the board.
He's been seeing the ice extremely well, and has been just as excellent in getting the puck to a spot where his teammates can generate a scoring chance, even if they don't necessarily see it in the moment, as York attested postgame about the no-look pass that led to his goal.
"That's the thing about [Zegras]," York said. "He can find you when you're least expecting it, so you always gotta be ready with him."
Trevor Zegras getting NIFTY with it 😵💫 pic.twitter.com/NVBHkwjQBA
— NHL (@NHL) November 5, 2025
Sometimes it's just about volume
The Flyers left Sunday's loss to Calgary with just 18 shots on goal, which fed into their glaring inability to work their way inside offensively over the weekend and drew increased attention to what were so far underwhelming shot- and goal-per game averages.
Obviously, there was a concerted effort to work toward the front of the net in Montreal Tuesday night, but just as much, they were clearly trying to shoot the puck more, too.
- MORE FLYERS
- Trevor Zegras is creating the change he needed with the Flyers
- Phantoms check-in: Alex Bump rallies on Halloween, Emil Andare caught in a defensive in between
- The Flyers have to get shots on and get to the net, as cliché as it is
As mentioned above, the Flyers outshot the Canadiens 12-2 through the first period, and 29-11 after two, even with Montreal's rally.
By the end, the shot differential was 42-20 in favor of Philadelphia, which by far was the Flyers' highest shot total of the still-young season – their second-highest was 34 in the shootout win against the Penguins on Oct. 28.
It's hockey cliché, sometimes painfully, that you just need to get pucks to the net. But sometimes, it's just that obvious of an answer, too.
The first for a new favorite
Grebenkin's first NHL goal was on a nice cut inside and an even nicer shot to tie the Flyers up in the clutch.
GRAB THAT PUCK 😄
Nikita Grebenkin has his first NHL goal! pic.twitter.com/R6kjrXjPKC— NHL (@NHL) November 5, 2025
In a victorious locker room afterward, Jamie Drysdale passed on the Bernie Parent mask for player of the game to the young Russian winger, who pulled it over his head and through a thick accent, yelled out, "One team, one family, let's go Flyers!"
Grebenkin is still finding his way in the NHL, but his personality is definitely built for Philadelphia to love.
"One team, one family, let's go Flyers." 🥹@IBX | #PHIvsMTL pic.twitter.com/qPn5xdyNnQ
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 5, 2025
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