The Montreal Canadiens just snapped a four-game winless streak with a victory on Saturday night and capped off their second back-to-back of the year with a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.

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Cayden Primeau made 23 saves, and the visiting Canadiens got goals from four skaters, including lamplighters on consecutive nights from Cole Caulfield and Jake Evans. Additionally, captain Nick Suzuki and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal.

In a night with some crazy plays and questionable calls, the young Canadiens improved to 4-4-1 through nine games, slightly off the pace of 5-2-2 they were in 2023-24.

A Special Night for Primeau

Primeau's hockey card states that he's from Farmington Hills, MI, but any hockey fan will know that he grew up in Philadelphia. His dad, Keith, played for the Flyers and was their captain for four seasons.

In his young career, which is just 48 games old, Primeau is 3-1-1 against the Flyers. However, he had never beaten the team in Philadelphia, but after his bend-but-don't-break performance on Sunday, he can cross that off his bucket list.

On a night when his teammates jumped out to a 4-1 lead, the scrappy Flyers mounted a third-period comeback that got a little stressful for a tired Canadiens team playing for the second time in 24 hours.

Related: Canadiens: What to Expect From Cayden Primeau

Overall, Primeau finished the evening with a .885 SV%, his third-best performance of the season. Meanwhile, after giving up six goals in his first start (Oct. 10), he's leveled out with just three against in his third straight contest.

Caufield on a Magical Run

Halloween is approaching, so it's a good time to discuss superstitions, like an athlete wearing No. 13. Some have succeeded with the number, while others avoid it like the plague.

In the offseason, Caufield switched from No. 22 to No. 13 to honor Johnny Gaudreau. With a guardian angel watching over him, he's off to the best start of his career.

After nine games, he's lit the lamp eight times and ranks second in the NHL behind Nico Hischier while remaining tied with last season's Art Ross winner, Nikita Kucherov.

In 2022-23, Caufield had seven goals in the Canadien's first nine games, but those tallies came in bunches. This year, the 23-year-old is the poster boy of consistency, who has points in all but two games with goals in six of the nine contests thus far.

Thanks to his hot start, Caufield is on pace for 82 points, which would be almost 20 points ahead of his career high of 65 last year.

Canadiens Join the Wildcard Mix

The 2024-25 season may be less than ten games old, but the wild card race in the Eastern Conference is just getting started. One of the teams in the mix is the Canadiens, tied with most of their Original Six rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, and Detroit Red Wings, all with nine points apiece.

Despite their slower starts, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets are just two points behind as the contenders in each division slowly start to separate themselves from the pack.

However, this is precisely where the Canadiens want to be.

They are tied with the Buffalo Sabres, who currently hold the final spot in the Atlantic Division. If the season were broken down into ten-game segments, this year's club would be on pace for 36 wins.

Related: Could The Canadiens Start A Winning Streak?

Should Montreal get over 31 wins, it would be their highest win total since Carey Price led the club to 44 victories in 2018-19. Obtaining a playoff spot would be a massive achievement for this group, but as they continue to build toward the future, just finishing with a winning record is another stepping stone toward their long-term goals.

Canadiens & Flyers Trivia Answers

How did you score in our Game Day Trivia quiz? Here are the answers.

• Bernie Parent

• Juraj Slafovsky

• 1976

• Carey Price

• Andrei Kostitsyn

• John LeClair

• Mark Reechi

• Yvan Cournoyer

• John Ferguson

• Erik Gustafsson

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