Montreal Canadiens centre Paul Byron (41) scores a goal against Philadelphia Flyers goalie Michal Neuvirth (30) during a shootout at Bell Centre.Jean-Yves Ahern
Paul Byron scored in the fifth round of a shootout as the Montreal Canadiens ended a three-game losing run with a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night.
Dale Weise and Max Pacioretty scored in regulation time for Montreal (28-27-4), while the Flyers (25-21-11) had goals from Nick Cousins and Michael Raffl. P.K. Subban had a pair of assists for the Canadiens.
The Flyers' Shayne Gostisbehere picked up an assist to extend his points streak to 14 games, an NHL record for a rookie defenceman. The league's longest active streak makes the Margate, Fla. native the first rearguard since Brian Leetch from Oct. 30 to Dec. 1, 1996 with points in 14 straight games.
Shots were 34-28 in Philadelphia's favour in regulation time and 37-32 overall. Pacioretty also scored in the shootout for Montreal while Cousins was the lone Flyer to score.
The Bell Centre crowd opened the game chanting Subban's name in support of the defenceman who was blamed by coach Michel Therrien for a loss Wednesday in Colorado.
And Montreal got the first goal when Weise passed in front and the puck went off defenceman Nick Schultz and past goalie Michal Neuvirth at 2:56.
Only 20 seconds later, Cousins' long wrist shot from the left boards handcuffed Mike Condon to tie the game.
Raffl put Philadelphia ahead 3:15 into the third frame when he was at the doorstep to redirect Gostisbehere's pass after Tomas Plekanec's pass was picked off at the blue line.
Flyers star Claude Giroux's third penalty of the game proved costly when Pacioretty scored from the right circle on a power play at 8:35.
Notes: Montreal announced centre David Desharnais will miss three weeks with a fractured foot...Tomas Fleischmann was scratched for a second straight game... The Flyers Scott Laughton got into a game for the second time in the last five. Sam Gagner, Jordan Weal and Brandon Manning sat out.