POSTGAME 5: Leafs Punish Flyers, 6-2

The Philadelphia Flyers were dispatched by the Toronto Maple Leafs,6-2, at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday evening. Toronto, which swept the three-game season series between the teams, ended Philly's four-game winning streak with authority. Philadelphia also saw a streak of scoring at least three goals in eight straight games come to an end.

Toronto jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on a backdoor goal by Calle Järnkrok (9th goal of the season) off a Mitchell Marner pass and a rebound tally by Zach Aston-Reese (4th). Just 16 seconds after the Aston-Reese goal. Travis Konecny (21st) got the Flyers on the board and cut the deficit to 2-1 with two minutes remaining in the opening stanza.
In the second period, a Conor TImmins goal (1st) at 7:01 was quickly answered by Nicolas Deslauriers (1st). Then disaster struck the Flyers as they yielded a shorthanded goal to Timothy Liljegren (3rd) and then a gifted goal by John Taveres (19th) off a Morgan Frost turnover. Suddenly, it was 5-2 Leafs.
Toronto padded the lead in the third period. Auston Matthews (20th) tallied a power play goal to establish a 6-2 lead.
Carter Hart took the loss. He stopped 29 of 35 shots. Matt Murray was credited with the win with 33 saves on 36 shots.
Flyers defenseman Anthony DeAngelo was benched for the final 39-plus minutes of the game.
The Flyers had a horrid night on special teams. They went 0-for-4 on the power play and coughed up a shorthanded goal. The Maple Leafs were 1-for-2 on the power play.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
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
TURNING POINT
The Flyers stayed close in the game with two quick responses to Toronto goals but the shorthanded goal by Liljegren and the Tavares conversion of Frost's turnover near the net put Toronto in total control.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) Hart was under siege right away at the start of the frist period. David Kampf had had an extremely dangerous
chance from the doorstep just 15 seconds after the opening faceoff. That was soon followed by a barrage of pucks at the net, including two prime chances for Michael Bunting on deflections. The Leafs quickly racked up the game's frist four shots on goal and five of the first seven.
The two biggest early highlights for the Flyers were provided by Tippett on impressive bursts of speed down the ice. On the latter, TIppett exploded out of a defensive zone faceoff, intercepted a puck being directed back to the point and went off on a semi breakaway. Shortly thereafter, Wade Allison had a look at the net from down low. Shots were now 6-3.
At 9:51.the Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead. Calle Järnkrok had a slam dunk at the left post off a tape-to-tape feed as Seeler was drawn over to Sanheim's side. Hart had no chance to stop the backdoor goal. The secondary assist went to Conor Timmins. The goal came shortly after Konecny was tripped in the Toronto zone without getting a call.
Hayes was denied by Murray from the lower left slot about 13 minutes into the first period. At the other end, Hart stepped up to deny the deadly Matthews. At 15:17, Konecny created a scramble around the Toronto net.
The two teams traded off very closely spaced goals late in the first period. At 17:44, Toronto's fourth line scored against the Flyers' fourth line. After a Flyers turnover and a Pontus Holmberg shot on net, there was contact with Hart. Aston-Reese scored on the loose rebound.
Just 16 seconds later, the Flyers got the goal back at the 18:00 mark. A Marner clearing attempt was gloved down by Konecny, who fired an unassisted goal through the five hole from the left circle.
2) After Toronto dominated the early minutes, the game settled into a pretty even period in terms of puck possession. Shots on goal were 12-11 Maple Leafs, shot attempts were 22-21 Toronto. Scoring chances favored Toronto, 15-7, and the Maple Leafs had a 7-5 advantage in high-danger chances. Toronto won 11 of 18 faceoffs but Frost won four of five for Philadelphia. The JVR-Frost-Tippett line collectively had a 70 percent shot attempt (Corsi) share in the first period. The Hayes-Laughton-Allison line was under 30 percent for the stanza.
3) Toronto came out attacking again in the second period. DeAngelo was on the ice for the first shift of the period, lost a pair of battles down low in the defensive zone and then spent the rest of the period on the bench.
At 1:32, Matthews accidentally high-sticked Laughton in the face on a forechecking attempt. York was out on the power play first unit. The Flyers were unable to get set up on their power play..
The Leafs made it 3-1 at 7:01. Frost was unable to dangle past two Leafs in the Toronto zone and was off the puck. At the other end of the ice, Timmins scored from high in the attack zone. Assists went to Marner and Tavares.
Once again, the Flyers responded quickly. The Maple Leafs were unable to get the puck out of their zone, and Patrick Brown claimed the turnover. After a pass to Deslauriers, the veteran checking forward made a move toward the net and elevated a backhander under the crossbar at 8:50.
The Flyers went back to the power play at 9:15 when Mark Giordano was called for interference in the D zone. Philly had early good puck movement but couldn't put a puck on net. At 10:07, with the Flyers' second unit on the ice, Järnkrok cleanly won an offensive zone draw against Laughton back to Liljegren. The defenseman's point shot dribbled between Hart's pads into the net to make it 4-2.
A Frost turnover in the defensive, putting the puck out in front, was tipped by Järnkrok to Tavares. From the slot, Tavares deposited in the back of the net at 12:22.
Holmberg was called for tripping at 14:22. Toronto had a counter chance off an intercepted Tippett pass back in the attack zone.
At 18:38. Allison was called for tripping near the Toronto net. Off the ensuing faceoff in the Philadelphia zone, Tavares blatantly tripped Laughton but there was not a penalty called. Toronto took 38 seconds of carryover power play times into the third period.
4) Second period shots were 14-12 Flyers with a 26-16 shot attempt edge. Those stats were meaningless, as the Flyers stumbled badly on the power play and in terms of puck management. Frost was a prime culprit in this stanza after he'd had a strong first period. Scoring chances were recorded by Natural Stat Trick as 10-9 Flyers, with a 5-3 high-danger advantage to the Flyers. But whatever the numbers, Toronto repeatedly capitalized and the Flyers shot themselves in the foot.
5) The Flyers had the first three shots of the third period and went to their fourth power play at 3:32 when Bunting was called for high-sticking.The best chance came after the power play expired as Sanheim jumped in the play and had a look from the left slot.
Philadelphia had eight of the third period's first 10 shots on goal but drew no closer.
At 6:33, two minutes of four-on-four play ensued after a post-whistle shoving and grappling match between Deslauriers and Wayne Simmonds. Sanheim was blocked on a prime scoring chance. Farabee broke his stick at the bench in frustration after a failed pass and turnover with room to make plays.
With 9:29 left in the third period, Hart robbed Matthews one-on-one.
At 11:51, Ristolainen was called for slashing. Philly paid for it with a tic-tac-toe goal scored by Matthews from the left dot at 13:13: Marner to Tavares to Matthews to the back of the net before Hart could get over.
Third period shots on goal ended up 11-10 Toronto.