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Neuvirth shaky as Flyers fall to Canadiens

MONTREAL - One night after a 10-goal loss that matched the largest margin of defeat in their proud history, the Montreal Canadiens were not a happy team.

MONTREAL - One night after a 10-goal loss that matched the largest margin of defeat in their proud history, the Montreal Canadiens were not a happy team.

They took out their anger on the Flyers.

Montreal made the most of its shots Saturday night and rallied past shaky goalie Michal Neuvirth and the Flyers, 5-4, at the Bell Centre to lift their home record to 7-0.

The previous night, the Canadiens were embarrassed in Columbus, 10-0, for their first regulation loss of the season.

The Habs improved to 10-1-1 despite being outshot overall, 38-17, and outplayed for much of the 60 minutes.

"It's just the way it goes sometimes," said rookie Travis Konecny, who scored a power-play goal on a tip-in to cut the deficit to 5-4 with 3 minutes, 44 seconds remaining. "We were playing great and getting good opportunities against the best goalie in the league. They capitalized on their opportunities and it's definitely a tough pill to swallow."

An interference penalty against defenseman Michael Del Zotto with 2:15 left helped seal the Flyers' fate.

"Definitely frustrating. We did a lot of good things," captain Claude Giroux said of the Flyers' second difficult loss in the last 12 nights in Montreal.

Neuvirth, who made his fourth straight start, allowed five goals on 17 shots as the Flyers (6-6-1) had their three-game winning streak snapped.

"I think probably the fourth and fifth ones are tough ones for our team to give up, but there's a lot more to it than that," said coach Dave Hakstol, trying to deflect the blame from Neuvirth.

With 16:08 left, Neuvirth went behind the net and had the puck taken away by Torrey Mitchell, who sent a pass to an all-alone Phillip Danault for an easy tap-in, giving the Canadiens a 4-2 lead.

After Giroux cut it to 4-3 with a power-play goal - and the Flyers still with an extra attacker because of a double-minor penalty - Tomas Plekanec fired a left-circle shot through Neuvirth's legs to make it 5-3 with 9:03 to go.

The Flyers dominated the second period, outshooting the Canadiens, 15-3, but allowing the only goal in the period and fell into a 3-2 hole.

Montreal scored on its only good chance of the period, as a defensive breakdown - Sean Couturier was late getting back - led to a four-on-three rush that produced Alex Galchenyuk's go-ahead goal against Neuvirth, who had no chance on the play.

Montreal goalie Carey Price was brilliant in the second period as he made 15 stops, none better than his glove save of Jake Voracek's ticketed blast from the left circle with 11:24 left in the period.

Montreal scored a controversial goal to open the scoring, but Chris VandeVelde and Shayne Gostisbehere answered about four minutes apart to give the Flyers a brief 2-1 first-period lead.

Just 1:06 into the game, defenseman Andrei Markov beat Neuvirth with a shot that hit the back of the goalie's blocker and went high into the net. Before the puck went in, Montreal's David Desharnais bumped Neuvirth's glove in the crease, causing Hakstol to challenge the goal, claiming goalie interference.

Surprisingly, the goal stood after the review, so Montreal became the ninth team to score first in the Flyers' 13 games.

"It's just one goal and there was a lot of hockey left after that," said Gostisbehere, who had a goal and an assist but was minus-2.

"We're scoring a lot of goals, but we're letting a lot in, too," Gostisbehere said. "We have to clean things up, but we can take some positives out of this game - that never-say-die attitude."

Breakaways. Del Zotto, who missed the first 12 games because of an injured knee, had an assist and seven hits. . . . Boyd Gordon was placed on the long-term injured list to make cap room for Del Zotto's return. . . . Price allowed twice as many goals than in any game this season. . . . The 40th annual Flyers Wives Carnival will be held at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday from 1:30 to 6 p.m.

scarchidi@phillynews.com

@BroadStBull