About last night: Slafkowski had a hat trick in a 9-3 win over the Flyers

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We'll never know if it was an eclipse that gave them superpowers, but every Montreal Canadiens player came out on offense in Tuesday's 9-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Center.

Juraj Slafkovsky led the way with his first career hat-trick. Brendan Gallagher and Christian Dvorak each scored twice in their first game since Dec. 30 after suffering a torn pectoral muscle. Jordan Harris had three assists.

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Slafkowski is the second youngest hub to score a hat trick behind Stefan Richer.

Enough jibber-jabber, let's get to the goals. Initially, Mike Matheson had the lone goal of the first period, but it went to Slafkowski on a deflection.

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Montreal recovered their poor second-period mojo with five unanswered goals in the middle. Slafkowski got things started in the second thanks to an ice pass from Nick Suzuki. Matheson collected his second assist of the night.

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Montreal then scored twice in 36 seconds. First, Brendan Gallagher scored, deflecting just past Samuel Ersson's glove.

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Slafkowski then completed his hat-trick with a stunning goal. Montreal jumped out to a 4-0 lead as headers rained off the ropes.

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Every swing seemed to go the Canadians way. Even Josh Anderson's 16-match goal drought didn't even kick in. He hit the net, good things happened, the score was 5-0. Ersson's night is over. Ivan Fedotov came in.

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Dvorak marked his return to action by scoring his first goal since Dec. 18 to end the second period. Habs lead 6-0 after 40 minutes.

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Former Hub Ryan Poehling got Philly on the board to start the third, but thanks to Dvorak, Montreal clawed back a six-goal advantage. Rafael Harvey-Pinard had his first point in 11 games for the Habs with an assist.

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Just over a minute later, Gallagher turned on the burner and perhaps turned back the clock, hitting one of the most beautiful jumpers of his career to give the Habs their first eight-goal game of the season.

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Philly added two more goals as the defenseless game drew to a close, but with less than two minutes left, Gallagher scored Joel Armia for his career-high 17th goal.

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The Montreal Canadiens put on a show for their fans during the team's penultimate home game of the season. It was also probably the only game this season where Suzuki and Cole Caulfield landed at the bottom of the impact map of the hockey stat charts on a nightly basis.

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The Liveblog commentators enjoyed watching the Habs play a spoiler that undermined Philly's playoff hopes, while also crediting Poehling's emergence as a solid player for the Flyers. As many people have asked, here's what Flyers coach John Tortorella said after the game. There is no smoke coming out of his ears.

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Here's what the commentators thought about last night's win.

3. “Yesterday's eclipse. Tonight is a nine-goal night. We are not sure that we will see them again in our lifetime.” – Bob Taylor

2. “It's a less stressful day at the office for Monty tonight. One run deserves support.” — Mick Chow

1. “Since February 1st, Slaf has 28 points (12G, 16A) in 29 GP. That's 79 points (34G, 45A) in a full 82-game season. Go back, and his last 49 GP (when using this heater) he has 17G and 24A, which project to 28G, 40A, 69 points (adding to 69 due to rounding). – Michael Way

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