Slafkovsky gets 1st NHL hat trick, Canadiens hand Flyers 8th loss in ...

Brendan Gallagher had two goals and an assist, and Christian Dvorak scored twice in his first game since Dec. 30 because of a torn pectoral muscle for the Canadiens (30-36-12), who had lost three straight and four of their past five. Sam Montembeault made 33 saves.

Joel Farabee and Ryan Poehling scored for the Flyers (36-32-11), who are 0-6-2 during their skid. Samuel Ersson allowed five goals on 17 shots before he was replaced at 12:42 of the second period when Montreal took a 5-0 lead. Ivan Fedotov stopped nine of 13 shots in relief.

Philadelphia fell two points behind the Washington Capitals for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference with three games remaining. The Capitals defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Tuesday.

Slafkovsky gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 1:05 of the first period when Mike Matheson’s one-timer from the top of the slot went in off his skate.

Slafkovsky made it 2-0 at 8:43 of the second period. He scored on a one-timer from the right edge of the crease on Nick Suzuki’s pass through the goalmouth from the left side.

Gallagher pushed it to 3-0 at 10:46 when he was in front of the net to tip Johnathan Kovacevic’s one-timer from the top of the left circle over Ersson’s glove.

Slafkovsky, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, completed his hat trick to put the Canadiens up 4-0 at 11:22, shooting past Ersson blocker side after Justin Barron’s stretch pass sent him in on a breakaway.

Josh Anderson made it 5-0 at 12:42 with his first goal since March 2. He drove the net and the puck slid over the line as he crashed into Ersson, who was replaced by Fedotov after the goal.

Dvorak, who had missed the past 42 games, scored at 15:27 to make it 6-0.

Poehling cut it to 6-1 at 4:54 of the third period on a shot past Montembeault stick side from the top of the right circle.

Dvorak pushed it to 7-1 with his second goal of the game at 10:06, and Gallagher made it 8-1 with his second of the game at 11:19.

Farabee scored at 15:05 to make it 8-2, and Erik Johnson cut it to 8-3 at 17:07.

Joel Armia scored on a setup by Gallagher at 18:17 for the 9-3 final.