Maybe going punch for punch with the Rangers at Madison Square Garden took a lot out of them.
Maybe the Canadiens frustrated them with an in-your-face, nothing-to-lose mentality.
Whatever it was, the Flyers looked off for two periods Thursday night and it cost them in a 4-1 loss to Montreal at Bell Centre.
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To make matters worse, they had two goals overturned in the third period.
Owen Tippett scored the lone goal for the Flyers (36-28-10). It came with 1:01 minutes left and the Flyers down 3-0.
John Tortorella's club has dropped three straight (0-2-1) and is 7-9-4 in its last 20 games.
After the Flyers went 2-3-2 in a daunting stretch against contenders, Thursday night marked the start of six straight meetings with teams not in postseason position.
NHL
The Flyers are 1-1-0 against the Canadiens (28-32-12) in their three-game regular-season series. They visit Montreal again in 12 days.
• The loss didn't hurt the Flyers in their playoff push but it also made for a missed opportunity.
The Capitals fell to the Maple Leafs, 5-1, and the Red Wings were blanked by the Hurricanes, 4-0.
With eight games to go, the Flyers are still in third place of the Metropolitan Division. They're one point up on Washington, which has played two fewer games than the Flyers.
The Capitals hold the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot by two points over Detroit, a team the Flyers are also battling if Washington ever passes them in the division race.
The Flyers entered Thursday with a 73.6 percent chance to make the postseason, according to Hockey-Reference.com's probabilities report.
• Samuel Ersson made 13 saves on 15 shots. Two of the Canadiens' goals were empty-netters.
Montreal netminder Cayden Primeau, the son of former Flyers captain Keith Primeau, stopped 29 shots.
With the Flyers trailing 2-0 early in the third period, Garnet Hathaway had a greasy goal disallowed for a distinct kicking motion. Just under four minutes later, Morgan Frost's goal was taken away after the Canadiens successfully challenged Tyson Foerster being offside.
Adding salt to the wound, Travis Konecny rung the post on a power play about two minutes later. The Flyers' man advantage went 0 for 4.
• The Flyers' penalty kill has surrendered 10 goals in 11 games without Nick Seeler.
It had allowed only 10 over the previous 26 games.
Montreal put the Flyers in a 1-0 hole when Nick Suzuki struck on the power play in the first period.
Under four minutes later, Jesse Ylonen cushioned the Canadiens' lead to 2-0.
In the first matchup between the two clubs, the Flyers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to grab a 3-2 shootout win. There was no comeback this time. The Flyers turned it on too late and didn't catch many breaks, either.
Seeler, one of the Flyers' best penalty killers and top shot blocker, is recovering from an injury to the area of his left foot and ankle.
• With Noah Cates out because of personal reasons, Cam Atkinson drew into the lineup after sitting for the last five games as a healthy scratch.
The veteran winger played 10:54 minutes. Sean Couturier played 10:26.
• The Flyers return home to host Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks on Saturday (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
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