Looking for their fifth straight win, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (29-19-6) are in Ontario on Thursday evening to take on Sheldon Keefe's Toronto Maple Leafs (27-16-8). Game time at Scotiabank Arena is 7:00 p.m. ET.
The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.
This is the first of three meetings this season between the Flyers and Maple Leafs, and the lone game in Toronto. The teams will rematch at Wells Fargo Center on March 14 and March 19.
The Flyers enter this game coming off a 5-3 home win against the Arizona Coyotes on Monday. Morgan Frost (penalty shot, 9th goal of the season), Travis Konecny (25th), Jamie Drysdale (3rd), Scott Laughton (7th) and Owen Tippett (empty net, 19th) scored for Philly as they overcame deficits of 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2. Samuel Ersson stopped 20 of 23 shots to earn the win in goal.
On Tuesday, the Maple Leafs skated to a 4-1 home win against the St. Louis Blues. Bobby McMann tallied his first career NHL hat trick (3rd, 4th, and 5th goals of the season in his 27th game). William Nylander (26th) also scored. Ilya Samsonov faced just 15 shots, stopping 14. The Maple Leafs were missing Mitch Marner (illness), John Tavares (illness) and defenseman Morgan Rielly (first game of a five-game NHL suspension) from the lineup.
Here are five things to watch in Thursday's game.
1. Captain Coots
On Wednesday, the Flyers announced that Sean Couturier would don the "C" on his uniform as the 19th captain -- 20th if one counts Bobby Clarke's two stints separately -- in franchise history. Thursday's game in Toronto will be the 772nd regular season game of Couturier's career but his debut game as captain. It will mark the first time a Flyer has worn the C since the 1,00th and final game of Claude Giroux's career in Philadelphia.
Whether a player becomes captain at a young age, such as during the start of Clarke's first tenure or as a veteran, the number one key to success is for the player to remain true to his natural personality and style. Couturier is not a bombastic type of leader (ala Chris Pronger) nor a natural policeman who keeps everyone else in line but is also the first in to vehemently defend a teammate (such as the style exhibited by longtime Flyers alternate Wayne Simmonds).
Couturier is more of a leader by example. He isn't a rah-rah type but speaks with honesty and integrity when there's something that needs to be said. He always comes ready to play, makes no excuses and is self-motivated. Those traits are central to the identity the Flyers are on their way to re-establishing for the long haul.
In addition to Couturier wearing the C, the Flyers have added an alternate's "A" to Travis Konecny's sweater. Scott Laughton is the senior alternate and was previously the only player to wear any letter on his uniform this season.
Before appointing Couturier as the captain, the Flyers had to make certain first that he'd be healthy after missing two-thirds of the 2021-22 season and the entire 2022-23 campaign due to two surgeries on his back. It's very hard (nearly impossible, in fact ) to lead when you're unable to play at all or playing at a severely diminished capacity.
Now that it's past the All-Star break and Couturier has shown that he can still play at a high level, the organization decided the time was right to name him captain. Konecy's appointment as an alternate recognizes his maturation as a player. Laughton remains a unifying presence who understands what it means to be a Flyer, on and off the ice. It's not a coincidence that the new captain and both alternates have spent their entire professional careers in the orange and black.
Naming Couturier as captain and having Konecny join Laughton as an alternate is more of a symbolic change than a substantive one. On a day-to-day basis, it will be business as usual. Even so, there is meaning behind the decision.
2. Homecomings for Drydale and Frost
Leaguewide, it's always special for players who hail from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to play a game in Toronto. In the Flyers' case, both defenseman Jamie Drysdale and center Frost are local products. Both players will have family and friends in the stands for Thursday's game.
Dysdale, born and raised in the Yonge and Lawrence neighborhood of Toronto, will play his fourth career NHL game against the Maple Leafs -- second game at Scotiabank Arena -- and first as a Flyer.
As a member of the Anaheim Ducks,the offensive-minded defenseman posted one assist against the Leafs while averaging 21:16 of ice time. The assist came shortly before Drysdale was traded to the Flyers in a 2-1 home loss for the Ducks on Jan. 4, 2024.
Frost grew up in the Toronto suburb of Aurora, Ontario. His father Andy, a famed classic rock radio DJ, was also the longtime public address announcer for the Maple Leafs. As such, Morgan spent considerable time as a youngster in and around Scotiabank Arena when the building was called the Air Canada Centre.
For Frost, Thursday's game marks his sixth career game against the Maple Leafs, and third in Toronto. Last season, Frost was a healthy scratch when the Flyers visited the Leafs on Nov. 2, 2022.
When the Flyers returned for an afternoon game on Dec. 22, Frost scored a third period goal for his first career point against the Maple Leafs to cut a three-goal deficit to 4-2.
Flyers winger Owen Tippett hails from Peterborough, Ontario, which is located roughly 85 miles northeast of Toronto. Peterborough is not considered to be part of the Greater Toronto Area. However, Tippett grew up rooting for the Leafs and his favorite player was Phil Kessel.
3. Discipline is Crucial
The Flyers enter Thursday's game with the NHL's second-ranked penalty kill at 86.3 percent success (opponents are 23-for-168. The Flyers lead the NHL with 12 shorthanded goals: five by Konecny, three by Ryan Poehling, two by defenseman Sean Walker and one apiece by Laughton and Garnet Hathaway.
Nevertheless, the Flyers would be best served to stay out of the penalty box against the Maple Leafs. Just as was the case when the Flyers opposed Tampa Bay, Philly is running into a Toronto team with a lethal power play.
In their four games since the All-Star break, Toronto is a scorching 4-for-7 (57.1 percent) on the man advantage. For the season, the Maple Leafs rank fourth leaguewide at 26.2 percent (Tampa leads at 30.7 percent). Toronto is 38-for-145 on the power play to date .
The Leafs, however, will cough up some shorthanded scoring chances. Toronto has yielded six shorthanded goals to date. Even as arguably the best shorthanded counterattacking team in the NHL, the Flyers cannot afford to find themselves repeatedly shorthanded against the Maple Leafs.
Plain and simple, the best way to combat the Toronto power play is to keep penalties to an absolute minimum, Keep your feet moving. Don't be careless with the stick. Don't get goaded into retaliatory infractions.
Likewise, puck discipline is critical against the Maple Leafs in two regards. It reduces the risk of being forced to take penalties by getting on the wrong side of the puck. It also minimizes Toronto's transition game. The Flyers can attest from last year's season series, that coughing up odd-man rushes to the Maple Leafs is a losing proposition.
4. Flyers power play vs. Leafs PK
In Monday's game against Arizona, the Flyers went 0-for-8 on the power play, One of the power plays lasted just two seconds. At least the Flyers generated nine scoring chances overall and three high-danger chances. Philly had a lot of attack zone time, too.
As such, the power play wasn't a momentum killer for the Flyers in that game. Even so, the bottom line was that the Flyers had to generate all of their scoring in other ways.
For the season, the Flyers rank 31st in the NHL at 12.6 percent on the power play. with three shorthanded goals allowed. There was a promising uptick from the Christmas break to the All-Star break (18.5 percent in that 17-game span). However, while the Flyers have won each of their first four games since the All-Star break, the power play has gone 1-for-16.
Toronto's PK is tied with the Seattle Kraken for 21st in the NHL at 78.5 percent success. Opponents are 31-for-144 on the power play against the Maple Leafs. Toronto has scored five shorthanded goals to date: Two by Nylander and one apiece from Marner, Calle Järnkrok and Noah Gregor.
5. Behind Enemy Lines: Toronto Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs enter Thursday's game with a 13-10-2 record on home ice (14-6-6 on the road) Over their last 10 games, Toronto has gone 6-4-0.
Nylander leads the Maple Leafs in scoring with 66 points (26g, 40a) in 51 games played. He's followed by the deadly Austin Matthews (42g, 21a, 63 points), Marner (22g, 35a, 57 points), the suspended Rielly (7g, 36a, 43 points) and Tavares (15g, 25a, 40 points). From there, the leaderboard drops to Maxi Domi's 25 points (5g, 20a).
