It seems a day of rest was all the Montreal Canadiens needed to shed a seven-game road losing streak.

Jan Bulis exploded for four goals as the Canadiens posted a 5-3 victory over the hometown Philadelphia Flyers Wednesday night.

Not too bad considering Bulis was told in the morning by coach Bob Gainey that he would be a healthy scratch.

Canadiens' Jan Bulis celebrates after scoring his fourth goal. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy)

"I had a meeting with Bob and he told me I wasn't playing," Bulis said. "Then I came back in the afternoon and he told me I was going to suit up. Luckily, it went well for me."

Steve Begin also scored and Craig Rivet had two assists for the Canadiens, while Cristobal Huet stopped 24 of 27 shots for the victory.

In the hopes their players would have fresh legs coming into Wednesday's contest, Gainey and assistant coach Guy Carbonneau gave their squad a day off practice Tuesday.

"This team is tired, mentally and physically, and the day off is more important than being on the ice," Carbonneau told reporters on Tuesday.

Simon Gagne, Freddy Meyer and R.J. Umberger scored for Philadelphia, which has lost four of its last five games at home.

The Flyers got some bad news in the second period when Peter Forsberg left the game with what appeared to be a groin injury. Forsberg missed two games last week with an abdominal muscle strain and also missed six games earlier this season with a right groin strain.

Forsberg has 62 points in his first season with Philadelphia.

"As soon as Peter went out, our whole energy level just fell off the cliffs," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said."

The Flyers jumped to a quick 2-0 lead just 7:05 into the first period, but couldn't hold the advantage.

Gagne netted his career-high 34th goal of the season off a rebound just over four minutes into the game and Meyer tallied a goal on a shot from the right point nearly three minutes later.

Then it was Bulis' turn. After his first tally at the 8:17 mark of the first, Bulis uncorked a shot from the right circle past Flyers netminder Robert Esche 6:18 into the second frame.

The Flyers took a 3-2 edge with 5:39 left in the second on the power play after Umberger deflected Petr Nedved's one-timer from the right point by Huet.

Before the end of the period, Bulis answered with a power-play goal with four minutes left to play in the frame for his first career hat trick. Tomas Plekanec carried into the zone along the right side before hitting Bulis, who was able to tip the puck past Esche.

Bulis' fourth goal of the game gave Montreal the lead for good 3:11 into the third. He streaked to the left side of the goal, tipped home Niklas Sundstrom's pass into a wide-open net.

Midway through the third, Gagne skated out from behind the net, but overskated the puck. An alert Begin then flipped the gift over Esche for a 5-3 lead at the 8:40 mark.

"We made some really poor decisions and we gave up three or four odd man rushes," said Hitchcock. "Even though we only gave up 15 shots, we played really poor defensively."

Montreal, which had lost 16 of its last 17 on the road and hadn't won away from home since beating Tampa Bay on Dec. 28, will try and build on this road victory when they take on the Senators in Ottawa on Thursday.

After that game, the Canadiens wrap up their six-game road trip Saturday in Toronto (CBC, 7 p.m. ET).

with files from Canadian Press and Sports Network