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Flyers shake off Chicago rout by edging Canadiens

Dec 13, 2013 - 4:28 AM Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Steve Mason stopped 20 shots, while Michael Raffl and Claude Giroux supplied the offense as Philadelphia edged Montreal, 2-1, on Thursday.

Jakub Voracek posted a pair of assists for the Flyers, who put together a solid defensive effort in stark contrast to a 7-2 loss in Chicago on Wednesday which capped a six-game road swing.

"It was a character game coming off a long trip, getting in late last night," said Mason. "All the guys played hard tonight. It says a lot. We're happy with the victory."

Philadelphia has won six in a row on home ice this season and six straight against the Habs here since November of 2010.

Alex Galchenyuk picked up a late tally and Carey Price made 25 saves for the Canadiens, who have lost two in a row after winning four straight.

"These are the games where you have to stay focused and just try to do your job," said Price about the lack of support from his offense. "You have ultimately one goal out there, that's to stop the puck. It's the only thing you have to worry about."

The Canadiens had a goal waved off with 6:35 left in the contest. Galchenyuk's shot from the left wing trickled through the crook of Mason's arm and into the crease. An onrushing Brian Gionta made an attempt to swat it home with his stick, but missed and knocked the disc home with his left glove instead.

Price was called to the bench for an extra skater twice in the final 1:38, and Galchenyuk's poke at a loose puck in the crease with 55.1 seconds remaining pulled the Habs to 2-1, but the visitors had nothing more in the tank.

Raffl opened the scoring when he ripped a shot home from the high slot with 6:03 left in the first period. Giroux won a left-circle draw and shuttled the puck around behind Price to Voracek, who fed back in front to the goal scorer.

"I was so happy when I saw him this morning," said Raffl of his father, who was in attendance along with the fathers of his other teammates. "He didn't get the chance to watch so many games that I played, and I don't think he's ever saw an NHL game, so that's something special for me tonight."

Mason made an easy stop on Travis Moen during a 2-on-1 short-handed chance early in the second, and though the Flyers didn't click on the advantage, Giroux beat Price to the far side from the right circle at 9:43.

Habs defenseman Alexei Emelin elbowed Steve Downie in the head, drawing a major and game misconduct with 3:45 remaining. The best chance for the hosts until the period came to a close was Brayden Schenn's break-in, but Price got that shot with his blocker.

Montreal checked away the final portion of the Emelin penalty to start the third but remained behind by two scores.

"We did a good job killing it, you want to get momentum off of that," said Gionta. "We tried but we just couldn?t generate too much. We started too late, we started to come on towards the end, we got some good chances and got pucks to the net but it again was too late."

Game Notes

The Flyers improved to 4-2 in the second game of back-to-back contests this season ... Montreal hasn't won in Philadelphia since a 1-0 decision on Apr. 2, 2010 ... Canadiens forward Danny Briere returned to Philly for the first time since his buyout and subsequent signing by Montreal, putting three shots on goal in 14:13 of ice time ... Prior to the game, the Flyers signed forward Chris VandeVelde and assigned forward Tye McGinn to Adirondack of the AHL ... In a post-buzzer scrum, Mason drew two minors, while Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher was handed two minors and Gionta given one for high sticking.