5 THINGS: Flyers vs. Maple Leafs

Facing a tough test in their quest for five straight wins, John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers (15-17-7) will host Sheldon Keefe's Toronto Maple Leafs (23-9-7) at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday evening. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET.

GAME NOTES
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 third and final meeting of the season series between the teams, and the lone game in Philadelphia. The Leafs won the two games at Scotiabank Arena by scores of 5-2 on Nov. 2 and 4-3 on Dec. 22.
On November 2, John Taveres notched a hat trick and an assist for the Maple Leafs, while Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist and Mitchell Marner chipped in a pair of helpers.
The Flyers scored first but trailed 2-1 at the end of the first and second periods. Toronto pulled away in the third with three goals to one for the Flyers.
Joel Farabee got the Flyers on the board first in the opening period but Toronto struck back for tallies by Auston Matthews (PPG) and Tavares to take a 2-1 edge to intermission. The second period was scoreless.
In the third period, a Zach Aston-Reese tally was answered by an Owen TIppett goal (PPG). However, the Flyers had no reply to back-to-back goals by Tavares (5-on-5 and PPG) as he completed his hat trick.
Felix Sandström was peppered with 44 shots, stopping 39. Ilya Samsonov saved 22 of 24 Flyers' shots. The Flyers went 1-for-6 on the power play. Toronto went 2-for-4.
On Dec. 22, the Flyers played a strong first period and took a 1-0 lead to intermission. The Leafs dominated the second period and eventually broke through
to score four straight goals from late in the second period to the middle stands of the third stanza. A late comeback bid by Philly reduced the deficit from 4-1 to 43 but the Flyers fell one goal short.
Tony DeAngelo (PPG) scored the lone goal of the first period for either team. The tally came on Philadelphia's first shot of the game.
In the latter stages of the second period, Calle Järnkrok scored a deflection goal (6th) a few moments after a Toronto power play ended. The goal was scored on Toronto's 23rd shot of the game. Subsequently, a Marner power play goal at 19:22 put Toronto ahead by a 2-1 score heading into the third period.
Early in the third period, Michael Bunting converted a Matthews pass into a 3-1 lead for Toronto. William Nylander made it 4-1 at 11:39. The Flyers then got two goals back in short order.
A healthy scratch in the previous game between the teams, Morgan Frost reduced the deficit to 4-2 at 12:01 and then Joel Farabee got Philly within 4-3 at 14:24. The Flyers had a couple of opportunities to tie the game at 4-4 -- including a gaping net staring at Farabee near the right post -- but the team was unable to find the equalizer.
Carter Hart played brilliantly for the first two periods. He ultimately took the loss despite 30 saves on 34 shots. Samsonov saw just 19 shots for the game, stopping 16.
Here are five things to watch in the final game of the season series.
1. Looking for five in a row.
The last time the Flyers rattled off a five-game winning streak was during the 2019-20 season under former head coach Alain Vigneault. That season, the Flyers rattled off a pair of five-plus game winning streaks: five games from Nov. 25 to Dec. 3, 2019 (the final win came at the Maple Leafs' expense) and then nine straight wins between Feb. 18 and March 7, 2020.
It's no secret that the Flyers' fortunes fell precipitously in the 2020-21, 2021-22 and much of the 2022-23 seasons. The Maple Leafs have largely surged in the last few regular seasons and they present a formidable obstacle for the Flyers if the Philadelphia side is to win its fifth straight game.
That said, the Flyers have shown improvement in recent weeks. They've scored three or more goals in eight straight games and started to have a wider array of players contributing. The penalty kill has looked better and even become a bonafide threat to score short handed.Throughout the season, the Flyers have demonstrated a much-improved work ethic and greater resilience. The difference in the team's current stretch of six wins in the last 10 games is that they've been finding ways more often to be the team that prevails in winnable games by stepping up in key situations and then closing it out.
2. Can the Flyers stay hot offensively?
In the most recent edition of the "Friday Forecheck" column, we took an in-depth look at the Flyers' recent surge and the prevalence of players age 25 and younger on the scoresheet of late.
Most notably, Travis Konecny has posted at least one point in 10 of his last 11 games, 14 of the last 16 games, and 20 of the last 23 games. Coming into this game against Toronto, he has recorded points in seven straight games (8g, 6a, 14 points).
Also of note: Farabee has scored goals in back-to-back games and has four points (2g, 2a) over his last five games. Frost has posted 13 points (5g, 8a) in the last 12 games, and his regular linemate, Owen Tippett, has 10 points (5g, 5a) in the last seven games. Farabee is 22 years old and both Tippett and Frost are 23 years of age.
In the meantime, Tippett and Frost's veteran linemate, ex-Leafs left winger James van Riemsdyk has produced (4g, 7a) 11 points in the last 11 games. Fellow veteran Scott Laughton has surged to 11 points (6g, 5a) in the last 10 games.
Additionally, over the course of the Flyers' last four games, several players who had been in recent offensive droughts made key contributions on the scoresheet. NHL All-Star Game selection Kevin Hayes notched five points (1g, 4a) in the team's last two games. Farabee seems to be heating up offensively. Noah Cates scored a game-winning shorthanded goal in Los Angeles to end a 20-game goalless drought, and has five points (1g. 4a) in his last five games. Last game against Arizona, Wade Allison notched his first goal and point since returning from an 18-game stint on Injured Reserve.
3. On-paper "fatigue factor" edge.
The Flyers, over the last couple seasons, have not been particularly good at stepping up in games where they enter as a rested team facing a presumably more tired opponent. However, such an opportunity exists heading into this game against the Maple Leafs.
Tortorella has given his team ample opportunity to rest since returning home on Tuesday from the three-game road trip through California. The team took off-days on Tuesday and Wednesday. After dispatching the visiting Arizona Coyotes on Thursday by a 6-2 score, the team had another off-day on Friday before a brisk practice on Saturday.
In the meantime, the Maple Leafs will be playing for the third time in four nights and the fourth time in the last six nights. On Tuesday, the Leafs settled for one point from a home shootout loss, 6-5, to the St. Louis Blues. On Thursday, the Leafs lost again on home ice, this time by a 5-1 count, to the Seattle Kraken. Last night, the Maple Leafs shook off a poor first period to go on to beat the visiting Detroit Red Wings, 4-1. After the game, the team took a flight to Philadelphia. To try to conserve energy for the Sunday evening game, the Maple Leafs will not hold a morning skate. The Flyers will have an optional morning skate at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees.
One component of a team establishing (or re-establishing) a winning culture is learning how to capitalize when an advantage presents itself, whether it's a lenghy 5-on-3 power play, a fatigue factor heading into a game, or an opponent riddled with key injuries. None of these opportunities mean a thing if a club doesn't execute on the ice in order to take advantage.
Last game against Arizona, the Flyers came in with three main keys to victory: 1) Do not let Clayton Keller run wild on them as he did in compiling a hat trick the first time the teams met; 2) Stay out of the penalty box because the opponent had come in with power play goals in each of its previous five games; 3) Be persistent in the forecheck, throw pucks at the net from a variety of angles and limit turnovers.
The Flyers accomplished all three objectives against the Coyotes. The goals are similar -- but the margin for error is smaller -- in playing against Toronto. 1) The Maple Leafs rank 8th in the NHL in terms of goals per game, and have a much deeper lineup than Philly's previous opponent. Toronto scored a combined nine goals in the two previous games against the Flyers. It's not Matthews or Marner that the Flyers have to worry about containing. Nylander and Tavares are also capable of repeatedly burning a team, and the surrounding cast is also dangerous; 2) The Maple Leafs' power play isn't merely good. It's devastating at times, clicking at a nearly 1-in-4 ratio of PP opportunities to goals scored. The Flyers have learned the hard way this season about playing with fire against the Toronto power play; 3) The Maple Leafs in the last couple years have become much stingier in terms of commitment to team defense. They don't give up nearly the amount of time and space to make plays that they did a few seasons back. Toronto enters this game ranked as the No. 3 team in the NHL in terms of lowest goals against average. The Flyers will have to be opportunistic because they probably won't be able to generate nearly as many scoring chances as Philly had against the likes of Anaheim and Arizona.

Last but least, let's return to the "fatigue factor" edge the Flyers have on paper heading into this game. These opportunities even out over the course of a season. Very shortly, the Flyers will be the team that has to battle through potentially tired legs. Sunday's game is the start of a stretch of three games in four nights (home-road-home) for the Flyers.
4. Flyers Line Play
The Flyers have recently found some stability with their forward lines. Prior to the latter portion of December, a slew of injuries and significantly inconsistent play from period to period (let alone game to game) fed into frequent line combination juggling from the game-to-game starting lineups and also within games. More recently, Tortorella has been able to keep the same forward combinations together with much more regularity. In terms of recent defense pairs, it has depended on whether Nick Seeler or Justin Braun has dressed for a given game as well the performances of each pairing in the previous game.
The projected lines and pairings below are based on the last two games. At Saturday's practice, Kieffer Bellows was the 13th (extra) forward, which is very likely to hold over into the game against Toronto barring a game-day injury or illness within the projected starting 12. On the blueline, the Flyers rotated pairings around a bit at Saturday's practice. However, since the holiday break, Braun has been closer in usage to a seventh defenseman rather than a "6B" alternating with Seeler as the "6A". That could change again at some point.
In net, the Flyers will probably split the starting assignments in the back-to-back set with the Maple Leafs on Sunday and Monday's road game against the Buffalo Sabres. If so, Hart will get one game and Samuel Ersson will get the other.
Projected lineup (subject to change)
86 Joel Farabee - 49 Noah Cates - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
13 Kevin Hayes - 21 Scott Laughton - 57 Wade Allison
44 Nicolas Deslauriers - 38 Patrick Brown - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 45 Cam York
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
24 Nick Seeler - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
79 Carter Hart
33 Samuel Ersson
5. Behind enemy lines: Toronto Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs boast five players who have tallied at least 29 points so far this season: Nylander (22g, 23a, 45 points), Matthews (19g, 26a, 45 points), Marner (14g, 30a, 44 points), Tavares (16g, 19a, 35 points) and Bunting (13g, 16a, 29 points). Marner recorded his 500th career point in Saturday's victory over Detroit.
Morgan Rielly (0g, 17a in just 24 games played) leads the team in blueline scoring. Overall, Toronto has six players who've notched 19 or more points including Alexander Kerfoot (6g, 13a). By comparison, the Flyers have only two player -- Konecny and Hayes -- with 29-plus points but have seven players with 19-plus points. DeAngelo tops the Philly blueline with 12 points (7g, 18a) in 34 games played.
In goal, Samsonov (15 GP, 11-3-1 record, 2.38 GAA, .913 save percentage, two shutouts) has split time with Matt Murray (15 GP, 9-4-2 record, 2.61 GAA, .914 save percentage, one shutout). Samsonov got the start in Saturday night's win against Detroit, so Murray could get the nod against Philly. For the Flyers, Hart has appeared in 28 games (11-11-8, 2.86 GAA, .911 save percentage) while Ersson got four consecutive starts (3-0-0, 2.90 GAA, .905 SV%) on either side of the holiday break. Felix Sandström, who only got into one game in December, is currently with the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms on a two-week conditioning assignment.
58 Michael Bunting - 34 Auston Matthews - 88 William Nylander
19 Calle Järnkrok - 91 John Tavares - 16 Mitchell Marner
15 Alexander Kerfoot - 64 David Kampf - 47 Pierre Engvall
12 Zach Aston-Reese - 29 Pontus Holmberg - 20 Dryden Hunt
44 Morgan Rielly - 78 TJ Brodie
55 Mark Giordano - 3 Justin Holl
38 Rasmus Sandin - 37 Timothy Liljegren
30 Matt Murray
35 Ilya Samsonov