PHILADELPHIA -- Someday, Matt Read will tell his grandchildren about the night he teed up a slap shot that cleanly beat one of the best goaltenders in the world.

On Thursday night, he was more interested in the fact the Flyers rebounded from one of their worst performances of the year with a 3-1 win over Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens.

Read scored the winning goal?3:32?into the third period and Flyers goaltender Michal Neuvirth turned away 15 of the 16 shots he faced to pick up his eighth win of the season (8-4-0) and his second win in three games.

Read's first game-winning goal of the season came off a line rush after crisp passes from linemates Nick Cousins and Sean Couturier. Read buried the shot high over Price's blocker.

"I just put my head down and swung as hard as I could and it was in the back of the net," Read said of his first goal in 27 games. "It's obviously good to score another goal. It's been a long time, but if I can help my linemates and my team win a game, that's the important thing right now."

Price, who stopped 21 of 23 shots, fell to 23-11-5.

"It was a bit of knuckler and he put it in a good spot, right in the top corner," Price said. "It was a really good shot."

At the other end of the ice, Neuvirth's biggest stop came seven minutes into the third period when he stopped a point-blank shot by Montreal left wing Paul Byron.

"Timely save," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. "There were three or four pretty good ones but none more timely than that one."

Claude Giroux and Couturier also scored for the Flyers (26-20-6), who battled back from an early 1-0 deficit to win for the fourth time in five games and erase the memories of Tuesday night's 5-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh.

"I thought we played our worst game of the year in Carolina and we needed to atone for that," Flyers right wing Wayne Simmonds said. "Tonight was a good start. We knew we were awful and when you play that bad there's only one way to go and that's up. It started with Neuvy tonight and from there on out every one of us was solid."

Defenseman Nikita Nesterov scored the only goal for the Canadiens, whose 16 shots were their lowest since they took 17 shots in a 5-4 over Philadelphia on Nov. 5.

The Canadiens (30-15-7) lost for the second time in three games and for the fifth time in eight games (3-4-1).

"Going into the game we knew we had to put pucks to the net and make (Neuvirth) make saves and we didn't generate that tonight," Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry said. "We had a tough time sustaining O-zone time."

Couturier finished off the Canadiens with an empty netter, his ninth goal of the season, with 14 seconds remaining.

Acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning one week earlier, Nesterov netted his first goal for the Canadiens and in his second game to give the Habs a 1-0 lead just 4:51 into the game.

Center Alex Galchenyuk, who sat out the previous three games with a knee injury, helped set up the goal, sliding a blue line pass to Nesterov for a one-timer.

The Flyers took the next 10 shots in the first period.

"We got a good start but as soon as we scored our goal, our attitude changed," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. "We didn't have an attitude to compete. We stopped skating, we didn't battle to loose pucks. They played a good game, but on our side we didn't compete at all."

The Flyers pulled even when Giroux scored with 2:10 remaining in the second period on Philadelphia's second power play of the night.

With Canadiens center Andrew Shaw in the box for interference, a penalty Therrien called "unacceptable," Giroux won a faceoff and positioned himself in the left circle for a snap shot that caromed off Price's catching glove and into the net for his 12th goal of the season.

NOTES: Flyers second-year D Shayne Gostisbehere and rookie F Travis Konecny were healthy scratches. Gostisbehere has gone 27 games without a goal and is a team-worst minus-19. He was replaced in the lineup by D Nick Schultz. Konecny, who has gone seven games without a goal, was a minus-2 in Tuesday night's 5-1 loss at Carolina. He was replaced by Dale Weise. ... Montreal C Alex Galchenyuk returned to the lineup after missing three games with a knee injury. He missed 18 games earlier this season with an injury to the same knee. He played on a line with David Desharnais and Andrew Shaw. ... D Jeff Petry also returned to the lineup after missing Tuesday night's game with an illness. ... The Flyers honored their former captains before the game, including one representing four decades: original captain Lou Angotti (1960s), Bob Clarke (1970s), Dave Poulin (1980s), Eric Lindros (1990s) and Chris Pronger (2000s). ... The Canadiens return home to face the Washington Capitals on Saturday, followed by a home game against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday. ... The Flyers continue their five-game homestand on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings.