Philadelphia goaltender Martin Biron makes a save on Montreal's Robert Lang during the first period. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)The Philadelphia Flyers returned to the scene of the crime and walked away with another win in their back pocket.
The Flyers upended the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 Saturday night to hand the Habs their second consecutive loss and deny them the chance to earn a measure of revenge before the hometown fans.
Saturday's game marked the Flyers' return to Montreal for the first time since shockingly eliminating the Canadiens in last season's playoffs.
A 5-3 victory in Philadelphia last month ran Montreal's regular-season winning streak in this series to seven. But after losing all four games during the 2007-08 campaign, the Flyers ousted the top-seeded Canadiens from the second round of the playoffs in five games, capped by a 6-4 win in Montreal.
"We did some nice things last year, but last year is last year," Canadiens coach Carbonneau said. "When you start a new season you don't start with 20 goals or 13 assists or 40 assists, you start at zero. You have to work for those points, and right now we have guys who think they're working, but they're not working."
The Canadiens (9-4-2) have hit a tough patch recently after a strong start to the season, losing four of their last fives games.
Montreal gave starting goalie Carey Price the night off. Backup Jaroslav Halak started in his place, making 29 saves on the night.
Flyers goalie Martin Biron stopped 24 shots to earn his fifth win of the season.
"We did a lot of good things tonight," Flyers captain told Hockey Night in Canada after the game.
"We didn't take too many chances [because] we know Montreal is a good team off the rush. We got the puck in deep and just tried to gut it out in their zone."
After a goal-less opening 20 minutes, the Flyers wrestled control of the game away from the Canadiens in the second period, outshooting Montreal 18-7 in the middle frame.
Philadelphia took advantage of a defensive breakdown by the Canadiens inside their blue-line when Scottie Upshall scored on a tip-in at 5:30.
Richards ran his point streak to eight games with an assist on the goal.
Philadelphia grabbed a 2-0 lead 10 minutes later as Jeff Carter beat Halak with a wrist shot from the slot. Simon Gagne earned an assist on the play to continue his hot streak — the Ste-Foy, Que., native has five goals and eight assists in his last eight games.
The Habs appeared to be down and out, but an Alex Tanguay goal midway through the third breathed new life into the Canadiens.
Montreal worked the puck behind the net where captain Saku Koivu made a smart pass out front to Tanguay, who reached behind a Flyers defenceman and scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season at 9:44.
"I made a few line changes and they woke up," he said. "They decided to work."
The Canadiens had a chance to tie it late in the third when Jeff Carter was called for a hooking penalty, but Montreal only managed one shot on goal on the ensuing power play.
The Flyers were once again without centre Daniel Briere, who suffered a slight groin injury in Philadelphia's 3-1 win against the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
Montreal begins a three-game road trip Sunday night in St. Louis. After taking on the Blues, the Canadiens visit the Carolina Hurricanes (Nov. 18) and the Ottawa Senators (Nov. 20) before returning home to host the Boston Bruins next Saturday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 6:30 p.m. ET).
