The Philadelphia Flyers were always in for a tough matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs for a variety of reasons. The Leafs have one of the most high-octane offenses, have one of the best aggregate special teams in the NHL, and are equipped with the NHL’s goal leader in Auston Matthews. That came full-circle tonight as the Leafs outlasted the Flyers with a strong third period showing, 6-3. Matthews added to his NHL leading 52 goals, Ivan Provorov recorded 3 points, and Kevin Hayes strong play continued, but once again way too little way too late.
The Flyers have been off since Tuesday night and the three off days in between provided enough drama, debate, and conversation. Ronnie Attard was set to make his NHL debut and play alongside Keith Yandle with Nick Seeler heading towards the press-box, but that turned a different direction as Yandle’s iron-man streak came to end at 989 consecutive games. Nate Thompson was medically cleared and is returning to the lineup for the first time since November 26th, Travis Konecny was supposed miss tonight’s game with an illness but he played through it, Hayden Hodgson who was set to replace Konecny was the one who fell ill, and Carter Hart made his return between the pipes after a one-game absence.
For the high-flying Toronto Maple Leafs, they came into Philadelphia welcoming back their All-Star goaltender, Jack Campbell after his lengthy absence. Goaltending for Toronto has been in question for a few months with the deteriorating play from Campbell and Petr Mrazek. With the latter about to miss about 6 weeks, the former’s return is almost picture perfect timing.
FIRST PERIOD
As the Flyers do so well, they come ready and attacking against the NHL’s best for the first half of the first period. The Flyers had the first 5 shots in the first 3 minutes and Morgan Frost’s attempt towards the empty net was fluttered but gloved by Jack Campbell. The Flyers were put on a man advantage after the half-way mark of the period as Zack MacEwen was tripped up in the offensive zone. The 32nd-ranked power play went head to head with the 6th-best penalty kill, with the latter having the better scoring chance, as per usual. Carter Hart was tasked to making a big save on an Ilya Mikheyev one-time opportunity.
Before heading towards the third and final commercial break, former Flyer Wayne Simmonds was ready to drop the gloves with MacEwen, but for whatever reason, the referee stopped Simmonds from getting too close to MacEwen. That tiny tussle might’ve been all the Leafs needed because the very next shift they had their best offensive shift of the period and had 4 scoring chances, none of them hitting the net however. The Flyers sat back and let the Leafs dictate play for the final 5 minutes but with a few seconds remaining, Konecny had the best chance of the period for both sides, but his shot attempt hit the side of the net with Campbell out of position.
SECOND PERIOD
The Flyers have had a bad habit of giving up an early second period goal after playing very well in the first period. This time around, it’s the Flyers who opened the scoring, not only for the game but also in the second period. Kevin Hayes won the face-off and ended up potting the goal after some very pretty passing. Ivan Provorov got the puck off the draw, passed it to Konecny at the point who fired it towards Oskar Lindblom in front of the net. He one-touched it back to Provorov, who then fed a perfect spin-pass to the unmarked Hayes at the other side of the net. Lindblom’s one touch was actually deflected by Auston Matthews, who had his stick lifted by Provorov for the takeaway and then the assist.
Shortly after breaking the dead-lock, Provorov was called for a holding penalty and after making a great play to set the Flyers up 1-0, his penalty brought the league’s best power play onto the ice. Clicking at 30% for the year and the Flyers having the 25th best penalty kill, it was a true David vs Goliath matchup. The Leafs had most of the possession and were firing at will all over the zone but nothing could get past Hart. Mitch Marner had the best chance with Hart on his stomach and an open net to shoot at but his shoot sailed over the net.
As fate would have it, Wayne Simmonds found himself on a breakaway after a beautiful outlet pass from T. J. Brodie and finished off the play for his 5th of the season while also snapping a 32-game goalless drought. Brodie’s pass split the seam between Nick Seeler and Morgan Frost and even though Simmonds flubbed on his shot, it fooled Hart enough as it rolled past him.
When it rains it pours and the Leafs were able to take the lead only 51 seconds after tying the game off a fortuitous bounce off the end-boards. Timothy Liljegren’s attempted play off the boards to Michael Bunting went straight into the crease and in between Hart’s pad and the post. There was a little bit of daylight and the puck found it’s way through and all of a sudden the Leafs had a 2-1 lead. It was another soft goal allowed by Hart after making several big saves to keep the Leafs off the board.
Hayes and Provorov reconnected once again but this time in reverse-fashion as Hayes set up Provorov for the game tying goal. Cam York’s shot was blocked away by William Nylander with Provorov pouncing on the loose puck. He shovelled it around the boards to Kevin Hayes who was behind the net. Morgan Rielly went after Hayes with Provorov streaking towards the paint, getting past Matthews again, and depositing his 6th goal of the season.
After only having 1 point in his last 17 games, Provorov doubled that in the second period alone. Right after the Flyers tied it, the Leafs were inches away from re-taking the lead but Hart was able to rob Mikheyev yet again with a huge pad save.
Both teams started trading scoring chances as the Maple Leafs had an odd man rush with Bunting and Matthews with the former being robbed by Hart’s blocker. The Flyers, specifically Hayes and Provorov, continued pumping chances against the Matthews line as Provorov’s point shot hit Nate Thompson and almost bounced in if it wasn’t for the quick reaction by Campbell’s glove hand. Noah Cates almost scored on the very next shift but one-time shot from the slot went just wide. The period ended with both teams tied at 2 and the Flyers holding a 24-18 shot advantage.
THIRD PERIOD
The third period started out very cautiously with both teams passively waiting for the other to make a mistake. The Flyers were 9-7-4 when tied heading into the third period and the Leafs were 7-3-2, not a situation the Leafs find themselves in quite often. Keith Yandle’s replacement, Nick Seeler, awkwardly landed on the ice after finishing off a body-check to begin the third. Things opened up after the first commercial break with both teams creating chances, none of them hitting the net.
However, with the pressure brewing, the Maple Leafs’ reunited top-line broke the deadlock 8 minutes into the third after Matthews finished off a beautiful play by Marner. The latter danced his way around the Flyers defense, had Hart come out of his crease aggressively, made a move that brought him to his knees, made a quick move around the net and passed it to Matthews who had an open net to shoot at for his 51st of the season. With 10:10 remaining the Flyers were awarded a power play after Justin Holl was called for an interference penalty.
As expected, the Flyers weren’t able to take advantage of the man advantage but the Leafs added to their NHL lead in shorthanded goals with their 12th of the season after Pierre Engvall finished off the odd-man rush with only 6 seconds left on the power play. The Flyers cut the deficit back to 1 shortly after from Ivan Provorov again. His shot from the point went through a maze of players, deflected off a Leaf defender and past Campbell, only 40 seconds later.
The Flyers let the momentum slip again as the Leafs started creating chances right off the hop. John Tavares had an odd-man rush opportunity stopped by the blocker, Matthews and Marner had several chances stopped by Hart before stealing the puck off the Flyers and then re-taking a 2 goal lead. Marner’s point shot was stopped, the rebound went towards an unmarked Rielly, who made no mistake with an open cage to shoot at. Hart had to flail all around the blue paint to stop all the chances thrown his way as the Flyers defense kept giving up odd man rushes.
The Leafs’ captain Tavares added the finishing touches to the game by scoring on a nice snap shot from the slot. He was set up by William Nylander and he finished off the solo effort with a top shelf beauty over the glove of Hart. Wayne Simmonds and Zack MacEwen eventually dropped the gloves with Simmonds dominating the tilt as he usually has his entire career.
The Flyers lost Nick Seeler early in the third, Kevin Hayes looked to have hurt himself but returned, and Hart’s bloody thumb now comes into question after his deteriorating play in the second half of the game.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will travel to Manhattan tomorrow as they take on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night.
