MONTREAL _ When the Canadiens stunningly dealt flashy P.K. Subban to Nashville for steady Shea Weber in June, Montreal fans acted with outrage.
Slowly, they seem to be accepting it.
A 5-0-1 start _ engineered by the 31-year-old Weber _ has something to do with it.
Weber scored Montreal's first goal and Brendan Gallagher tipped in the winner with 6 minutes, 52 seconds left as the Canadiens outlasted the Flyers, 3-1, at the Bell Centre on Monday night.
Montreal is the only NHL team without a regulation loss.
Four seconds after a tripping penalty on Sean Couturier, Gallagher tipped in Alexander Radulov's point drive to snap a 1-1 tie. The Flyers' penalty kill had been 3 for 3 before Gallagher's goal.
Radulov (three points) iced the win with an empty-net goal with 63 seconds remaining.
The Flyers wasted a strong outing from goalie Steve Mason, who now has a 4-1 career record against the Canadiens.
Since 2010-11, the Flyers are 12-6-3 against the Canadiens, with all six regulation losses in Montreal.
Weber scored on a point drive that changed directions after it deflected off Brayden Schenn's stick, giving Montreal a 1-0 second-period lead. Weber, whose shot shattered Schenn's stick, entered the night with five points in five games, along with a plus-8 rating.
A little over seven minutes later, Jake Voracek tipped in Claude Giroux's drive to knot the score at 1-all. It was Voracek's third goal in six games. Last season, he didn't score his third goal until the 33rd game.
Mason made 11 second-period saves, including an acrobatic one during a Montreal power play late in the stanza.
Mason, who struggled on the road last season and in his first two appearances this year, got his third straight start. He was coming off a solid performance in Saturday's 6-3 comeback win over Carolina, and he made a handful of difficult saves to keep the Flyers in a scoreless first-period tie Monday.
With 14:50 left in the first, Mason made one of his best stops of the night, denying Paul Byron on a backhander after the speedy 5-foot-9, 160-pound left winger raced past Andrew MacDonald and went in alone.
Montreal had the better scoring chances in the first period, outshooting the Flyers, 9-6. Mason also made a key early stop on the ever-present Max Pacioretty, who fired a shot off the post later in the period.
Down the other end, Carey Price made his best early save on Giroux, who came down ice on a two-on-one.
A short time later, Wayne Simmonds leveled Montreal's Andrei Markov with a cross check, drawing the fans' ire when no penalty was called. Markov went face-first into the boards, and Simmonds may have a hearing with the NHL disciplinary czars.
The Flyers have already had three players _ Brayden Schenn, Radko Gudas, and Dale Weise _ miss games because of suspensions this season.
Before the game, a Montreal reporter noted to Flyers coach Dave Hakstol that the Canadiens had the league's best offense "and defense in the season's first two weeks.
"I don't know if we have a chance if you put it that way," Hakstol cracked.
They had a chance primarily because Mason was superb in the first 40 minutes, enabling the Flyers to enter the third period in a 1-1 tie.
