Ylonen sparks Canadiens in win against Flyers

PHILADELPHIA -- Jesse Ylonen had a goal and an assist for the Montreal Canadiens in a 5-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Friday.

The forward skated through the slot and redirected Justin Barron's shot at 6:26 of the third period for his first goal of the season in his 17th game to give Montreal a 4-1 lead. The 23-year-old has three goals in 32 NHL games.
"It felt good," he said. "It's been a while, so it felt good. ... But the main thing is just trying to win the games. I think today I could help the team a little bit in that. That's the biggest thing, just to get some wins now."

Mike Hoffman had two assists, and Jake Allen made 24 saves for the Canadiens (25-29-4), who have won five of their past seven games. Jake Allen made 24 saves.
"It was one of our best games of the year, just being complete," Montreal forward Josh Anderson said. "Everyone knew where each other was. We were really balanced tonight, and it showed. When everybody's in the right spot, it's easy to play like that. It just looked like everybody was connected."
Owen Tippett and Ivan Provorov scored for the Flyers (23-27-10), who have lost six of seven (1-5-1). Carter Hart made 26 saves.
It was their first game back after playing four in six nights on a Western road trip.
"Played a little bit in the third for a few minutes, but we looked pretty sluggish," Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. "Sometimes those road trips work against you, you're coming across the time zones. ... As a group, we were sluggish right on through."

The game seemed to turn when Flyers forward Olle Lycksell was called for slashing at 7:52 of the first period. The Canadiens didn't score but had five shots on goal and controlled the tempo the rest of the way.
"I think our first 10 or so minutes were pretty good," Philadelphia forward Joel Farabee said. "I think once they got that first power play, we kind of lost our game a little bit."

David Savard gave Montreal a 1-0 lead at 17:50 of the first period. The Flyers got caught on a line change after a long shift in their own zone, and Hoffman found Savard skating into open space for a goal from in close.
Chris Tierney made it 2-0 at 19:55 in his Canadiens debut after being claimed on waivers from the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
"You feel better when you get on the board," Tierney said. "I thought the team is playing really well, and I kind of just fed off that. It was a good first win."
Nick Suzuki's centering pass from the left side for Anderson instead went in off the stick of Provorov for a power-play goal to put Montreal ahead 3-0 at 7:12 of the second period.
Tippett scored nine seconds into the third period to make it 3-1. The forward played 20:24 and had a game-high eight shots on goal.
"I think he's going to be a really good player for us," Tortorella said. "You lose another game, you have some questions about certain things, but I look at some other things and where some players are improving as you forecast and you look to the future. That's an exciting one."

Anderson made it 5-1 at 12:12 after Rafael Harvey-Pinard stole the puck from Philadelphia defenseman Tony DeAngelo behind the net.
Provorov finished a give-and-go with DeAngelo at 18:32 for the 5-2 final.
NOTES:Ylonen hadn't scored since April 2, 2022. It also was his first multipoint NHL game. ... Tierney's goal was his first since Dec. 11. ... The Canadiens were without forwards Kirby Dach and
Joel Armia
because of illness. … Tippett's goal was the fastest in a period for the Flyers since Oskar Lindblom scored eight seconds into the third period against the New York Rangers on March 22, 2018. ... Philadelphia forward Morgan Frost had two assists. ... Provorov's goal was his first since Jan. 22. ... Forward Travis Konecny, the Flyers' leading scorer, missed his second straight game because of an upper-body injury.