Canadiens hang on against Flyers for 2nd win in row

PHILADELPHIA -- Nick Suzuki and Brendan Gallagher each had a goal and an assist, and the Montreal Canadiens hung on for a 4-3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday.

Cole Caufield and Jake Evans also scored for Montreal (4-4-1), which won for the second consecutive day after a 5-2 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. Cayden Primeau made 23 saves.

It's the first time Montreal has won back-to-back games this season.

"We're obviously in a much better place than we were on Tuesday against the [New York] Rangers (7-2 loss)," defenseman Mike Matheson said. "Just as I think we're realizing that we shouldn't get too low after that Ranger game, I don't think we can look at these two games and say, 'Oh, we're all set, let's just keep going.' I think we still have areas to work on."

Travis Sanheim had two goals and an assist, and Travis Konecny scored for Philadelphia (2-6-1). Aleksei Kolosov, the first Belarus-born goalie to play in the NHL, made 20 saves in his NHL debut. He was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Saturday.

It was the Flyers' seventh loss in the past eight games (1-6-1); they defeated the Minnesota Wild 7-5 on Saturday to end a six-game skid.

"We're just not in [five-man units]," Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. "You need to play up the ice in fives. It not only helps you defensively, but it helps you offensively. We're just not playing in fives, and it's something we have to continue to work at."

Montreal took control of the game with three goals in the second period, starting with Gallagher's goal at 4:48 to make it 2-1. The forward got into the slot and had Logan Mailloux's shot deflect off his knee and past Kolosov.

After Caufield's power-play goal made it 3-1 at 12:48, Gallagher had his stick break on an attempted dump-in from the right point. The puck instead rolled to an open Jake Evans along the goal line on the left side, and he scored to put the Canadiens ahead 4-1 at 16:01.

The points were Gallagher's first in seven games.

"Take them when you can get them," he said. "The League's hard enough, so when you get breaks like that, you take them.

"You look at the stat sheet, end up with two, probably wasn't one of my better games. But throughout the year I've felt pretty good, so it's nice to get rewarded. Just kind of move on and hopefully continue to roll."

Gallagher's teammates were happy to see the 32-year-old rewarded for his dependable hard work.

"Sometimes it's easy to focus in on points, but I'd say, especially a guy like that, he has so much more to bring to the table to help the team win," Matheson said. "And sometimes a puck goes in off your knee, and you break a stick, and it goes to a guy back door. Sometimes those sorts of things happen, and usually they do when you've been doing a lot of other things well."

Suzuki made it 1-0 at 10:42 of the first period when he lifted the puck over Kolosov from the crease, but Sanheim tied it 1-1 at 17:24 with a shot from the top of the offensive zone.

After Montreal's big second period, Sanheim and Konecny scored 29 seconds apart to get the Flyers within 4-3 late in the third period.

Sanheim cut through the high slot and scored to make it 4-2 at 17:48, and Konecny made it 4-3 at 18:17 when he scored from the left post after Owen Tippett's wraparound attempt.

"We're just not working as a group," Sanheim said. "Last year, the reason we were so successful is we were five-man units one after another, every line. We had an identity, we were working hard, other teams knew that. ... Just not seeing that right now. It's something we've got to change pretty quickly because the way we're going right now, it's not a good path."

NOTES: Suzuki extended his point streak to seven games (three goals, eight assists). The 25-year-old is the fifth Canadiens player with at least four seven-game point streaks at age 25 or younger, joining Steve Shutt (six), Guy Lafleur (six), Shayne Corson (four) and Bernie Geoffrion (four). ... Matheson, who had an assist on Caufield's goal, has five assists during a four-game point streak. ... It's the third straight game the Flyers have allowed three goals in the second period. ... Philadelphia defenseman Emil Andrae, who also was recalled from Lehigh Valley on Saturday, had one shot on goal in 17:28 of ice time in his season debut.