The Philadelphia Flyers have had a trying month of March so far.
They entered tonight’s game at 3-4-1 this month and were facing a team that they hadn’t beaten in over four years. The Flyers were also without captain Sean Couturier as he sat out as a healthy scratch, much to the chagrin of many fans.
That doesn’t sound like a recipe for success, does it?
Of course, in true Flyers fashion, they threw all of that in our faces and managed to avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs, but not without making it interesting. Living and dying with every goal at this point of the season isn’t something the Philadelphia faithful have experienced recently, and while the Flyers may have given everyone a scare after almost blowing a three-goal lead, they showed resiliency as they continued their playoff push with a 4-3 victory in South Philadelphia.
“Just from a team standpoint, I think we knew we needed to get back in the win column,” said defenseman Travis Sanheim after the game. “We needed a much better effort than the last time we played these guys, and I thought we came out with a ton of energy. You could see that early, and credit to the guys, that was a huge win.”
FIRST PERIOD
All it took was 19 seconds for the Flyers to get Wells Fargo Center rocking as Owen Tippett ripped home a shot from the left point that eluded Ilya Samsonov.
That would be goal #25 for Tippett on the season.
Less than five minutes into the period, the anticipated bout between Nicolas Deslauriers and Ryan Reaves occurred after they chatted it up in warmups, with the Flyers forward earning the takedown after a flurry of fists went flying.
Despite the early goal, the Flyers had trouble finding the net with their shots and the Maple Leafs began to pepper Samuel Ersson. Luckily for the home team, their goalie was up to the task with some spectacular stops, and that created some momentum as the Flyers started to get quality looks at the Leafs’ net.
The closest they got to doubling their lead was a shifty Cam York backhander that rang off iron with about five minutes remaining in the opening frame.
1-0 is how the first twenty minutes would wrap up. The Flyers led in shots on goal at 8-7 and did a great job at responding to the Leafs’ quick attack by not allowing too many chances and creating some of their own.
SECOND PERIOD
Hot starts seemed to be the new trend tonight for Philadelphia as just 56 seconds into the second period, Travis Sanheim ended a nine-game goal drought with a laser that beat Samsonov to make it 2-0.
The Maple Leafs had an opportunity to cut the lead in half not long afterwards, but league-leading goal scorer Auston Matthews passed up a golden opportunity – literally. York blocked the ensuing shot by Max Domi to keep Toronto off the scoreboard.
About forty seconds later, Morgan Frost took the game’s first minor penalty with a hook against John Tavares, sending the Maple Leafs on the power play. The Flyers’ penalty kill has struggled as of late but they staved off Toronto’s first man advantage of the contest.
Philadelphia would earn their first power play of the game at 12:50 of the middle stanza, and it didn’t go according to plan. Not that it’s any different than how most of their power plays turn out, but they had to rely on their goaltender to save the day while up a man as Ersson robbed Bobby McMann of a shorthanded bid on a breakaway.
“Obviously you want to get the win, but it’s one of those games where you want to respond after what happened last game,” said Ersson, who made 27 saves. “Definitely wasn’t my best game today. I think I was pretty lucky there a bunch of the times, and some guy stepped up and made huge blocks for me.”
About 1:50 later, Frost extended the Flyers’ lead to three from the point with a shot through traffic.
“I think my linemates have been making some good space for me,” said Frost after the game. “Trying to shoot the puck a little bit more. I think that’s always been a thing with me, I don’t have a very hard shot, but you’re never going to score if you don’t put it on net. Just trying to throw more pucks to the net.
“I think when you’re playing with guys like Tipp (Owen Tippett) and TK (Travis Konecny) sometimes it can be easy to…I just want to pass to them the whole game and find them. Kind of just threw that one on net and it went in luckily.”
The tally, Frost’s 12th of the season, extended his point streak to four games, in which he has scored three goals.
Philadelphia would take the 3-0 lead into the locker room at the second intermission after another strong period. Two goals and some timely saves from their goaltender were just what the doctor ordered, and they’d look to finish things off in the third period.
THIRD PERIOD
The Flyers’ beginning to the third period was the polar opposite of the prior two.
First, Frost took another hooking minor, this time against David Kämpf. Then the Maple Leafs finally capitalized as William Nylander blasted home a quick wrister off a feed from Matthews almost immediately to pull Toronto within two.
As we approached the eight-minute mark of the third period, Pontus Holmberg high-sticked Scott Laughton to send the Flyers back on the power play. They had some good looks at the net but Samsonov and the Leafs kept the worst power play in hockey off the board.
With 9:44 left, Toronto pulled to within a goal thanks to Tyler Bertuzzi. The Maple Leafs were buzzing in the offensive zone and Morgan Rielly centered the puck in the slot, where Bertuzzi tapped it home to make it 3-2.
Philadelphia’s misfortunes only worsened as Laughton was called for high-sticking Tavares at the 10:50 mark of the period. Fortunately, they killed off Laughton’s penalty and immediately capitalized.
The puck was cleared to Laughton as he exited the box, and he danced around a defender before he dished the puck to Tippett. Tippett skated around the net and centered the puck, which wound up on Laughton’s stick and he jammed it through a sprawling Samsonov to restore the two-goal lead.
The Maple Leafs pulled Samsonov for the extra attacker with about 2:50 remaining, and Tavares banged home his 22nd goal of the season roughly forty seconds later to make it a one-goal contest again at 4-3.
Toronto once again gained control and set up in the Flyers’ zone, but this time Ersson and the Flyers held them at bay and finally defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs for the first time since December 3rd, 2019.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Morgan Frost – PHI, 2) Owen Tippett – PHI, 3) Cam York – PHI
UP NEXT
The Flyers will hit the road to take on the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh on Thursday night (7:00pm ET, NBCSP) in a battle of two of the top teams in the Metropolitan Division.
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