Flyers defeat Canadiens in OT for fourth straight win

MONTREAL -- Ivan Provorov scored 31 seconds into overtime and the Philadelphia Flyers extended their winning streak to four games with a 4-3 victory against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Provorov scored his sixth goal when he cut across the goalmouth from the right side to score on Keith Kinkaid after toe-dragging the puck between his legs to get around Montreal forward Max Domi.
"I stopped with the puck behind the net then they kind of gave me room to skate," Provorov said. "So I took the ice and then I saw it was a forward skating backwards. So I figured I had time and I had speed, so I figured I'd try it, and it worked."
WATCH: [All Flyers vs. Canadiens highlights]
Oskar Lindblom, Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny also scored, and Brian Elliott made 39 saves for the Flyers (15-7-5), who are 5-0-1 in their past six games.
"I kind of saw him setting up for it," Elliott said of Provorov's goal. "And when you have a little step on somebody, they're not thinking that you're going to go it alone in overtime. And he just took it, made a nice move and buried it, and it's a great feeling at the other end of the ice when you don't even have to touch a puck."

Philadelphia, which defeated the Detroit Red Wings 6-1 on Friday, had 22 points (9-4-2) in November, the most by an Eastern Conference team.
Tomas Tatar scored two goals for Montreal (11-9-6), which is winless in its past seven (0-4-3). Kinkaid made 24 saves.
"I think the boys deserved better," Kinkaid said. "I've got to have that one in overtime. I kind of cheated a little short side, I thought he'd go up top. And the boys played great defensively in front of me, and we were buzzing, Elliott made some huge saves."
Tatar tied it at 3-3 with his second goal of the game on a power play at 3:16 of the third period. He took a cross-ice pass from Nick Suzuki and scored on a wrist shot from the left side.
"I think we showed character in 60 minutes," Tatar said. "We were pretty happy with our game, how it went. It hurts that it didn't go in our way in overtime."
The Canadiens play the second of back-to-back games at the Boston Bruins on Sunday.
Joel Armia gave Montreal a 1-0 lead 19 seconds into the first period on a shot from the right side.

Lindblom scored at 7:47 of the second to tie it at 1-1.
Tatar put the Canadiens up 2-1 at 8:14.
Hayes drew the Flyers even for the second time at 2-2 with his 100th NHL goal at 8:59.
Konecny scored his first goal in 10 games at 1:34 of the third to give Philadelphia its first lead at 3-2.

They said it

"I didn't think [Ivan Provorov] had that move in his repertoire. So obviously, it was a great move, a big goal for us. Our fifth game in seven and a half days, finding a way to come up with a big win after giving up that early goal, and obviously a goal that Brian [Elliott] would want to have back. But what a battler. He kept us in, especially at the end of the second there when our PK wasn't very good and he made some unreal saves. And we were able to come through, get to overtime and win it on an unbelievable goal." -- Flyers coach Alain Vigneault
"I don't even remember a 2-on-1. So they did great coming back and not giving up those 2-on-1s and breakaways. Maybe they had a few 3-on-2s, but I think we sorted it out pretty well. Philly made a nice play on their goal there, but for the most part we played really well defensively." -- Canadiens goalie Keith Kinkaid

Need to know

Provorov has three game-winning goals this season. His seven game-winning goals are the most by a Flyers defenseman 22 or younger, one more than Behn Wilson. … Defenseman Gustav Olofsson made his Canadiens debut after he was recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League on Friday. He played 56 games with the Minnesota Wild from 2015-18. … Montreal finished the game with five defensemen after Victor Mete left because of a lower-body injury at 5:25 of the second. He will not make the trip to Boston.

What's next

Flyers: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TVAS, NBCSP, TSN4, NHL.TV)
Canadiens: At the Boston Bruins on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SN, NHLN, NESN, RDS, NHL.TV)