By Canadian Press

Canadiens’ power play clicking as Montreal downs Flyers for fourth straight win

Oct 24, 2016 | 7:15 PM

MONTREAL — Michel Therrien liked what he saw from the Montreal Canadiens’ power play, but he’s going to keep tinkering with it.

Looking to jump-start Montreal’s stalled power play, Therrien shuffled some players around and that was the difference as the Canadiens defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 on Monday night to extend their winning streak to four games.

The main change was putting forward Alexander Radulov on the point with Shea Weber on Montreal’s first power-play wave. That new strategy paid dividends in the third period when Brendan Gallagher tipped Radulov’s shot from the point past Steve Mason at 13:08 to break the 1-1 deadlock.

“We still need to work on it, we need a little more chemistry,” said Therrien. “It would have been too easy to go back to the old formula, but we wanted to stick with our four forwards and one defenceman, and they’re the ones who won it for us tonight.”

Therrien felt a change was necessary as the Canadiens came into the game 3 for 21 with the man advantage, 20th in the NHL.

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The experiment looked to have backfired though as Montreal went 0 for 3 to start the game. But Gallagher needed just four seconds into the team’s fourth opportunity of the night to deflect Radulov’s shot into the net.

“They won the faceoff there and Weber’s set up for a one-timer, so there’s that option,” said Mason, describing Montreal’s winner. “But he gives it right back to Radulov. And he shoots it, and I got a good line on it, but Gallagher got his stick on there and changed the direction in front of me.”

The goal was a just reward for Radulov, who was dangerous throughout the encounter. The Russian finished with an empty-net goal, two assists, five hits, and he drew a penalty in the second period.

“It was different because I haven’t played a lot in that spot,” said Radulov of his position at the point. “But with a partner like Shea Weber it’s easy. I always try to look to my right to give him the puck because he has a bomb and we have to use that more.”

Radulov also got an assist on Montreal’s first goal of the night. Weber put Montreal on the board at 5:28 of the second period with his second goal of the season.

After good work behind the net by Radulov to get the puck back to the point, Weber fired a slap shot that broke Brayden Schenn’s stick and deflected into the net.

“The game was fast and I wanted to be ready,” said Radulov, who now has five points this season. “I don’t want to take any shift off. The guys here know what it takes to win.”

First-place Montreal (5-0-1) remains the only NHL team unbeaten in regulation time.

The Habs also got a big boost from goalie Carey Price, who made 31 saves for his third consecutive win to start the season.

“I wish he had the flu again tonight but it’s not the case,” said Flyers captain Claude Giroux of Price. “He’s one of the best. We did a lot of good things tonight. They were able to get that power-play goal in the third to get the lead, but as a team we played a really good road game.”

After Weber’s goal, the Flyers (2-3-1) equalized in the second period when Jakub Voracek deflected Giroux’s shot past Price at 11:47. The goal came just seconds after Price denied Voracek all alone in front of goal.

Voracek has three goals in six games this season.

Notes: Mason stopped 30-of-32 shots in defeat. … Price played his 450th game with the Habs. … This was the first of three meetings between the Habs and Flyers this season. The teams meet again Nov. 5 in Montreal.

Kelsey Patterson, The Canadian Press