POSTGAME 5: Quick Start, Late Push Not Enough
The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the host Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3, on Thursday afternoon
The Flyers led for most of the first two periods despite being outplayed. The Leafs went on to break loose for four straight goals. A late comeback bid by Philly from a 4-1 deficit fell one goal short.
Tony DeAngelo (PPG, 5th goal of the season) scored the lone goal of the first period for either team. The tally came on Philadelphia's first shot of the game.
Calle Järnkrok scored a deflection goal (6th) a few moments after a Toronto power play ended. The goal, scored on Toronto's 23rd shot of the game, tied the game at 1-1 late in the second period. Subsequently, a Mitchell Marner power play goal (13th) at 19:22 put Toronto ahead, 2-1.
Early in the third period, Michael Bunting (9th) converted a Matthews pass into a 3-1 lead for Toronto. Nylander (20th) made it 4-1 at 11:39.
The Flyers got two goals back on tallies in which Travis Konecny and Morgan Frost figured in the scoring. Frost (7th) 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 but were 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. Ilya Samsonov saw just 19 shots for the game, stopping 16.
The Flyers went 1-for-5 on the power play. Toronto went 1-for-4.
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 - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
6 Travis Sanheim - 77 Tony DeAngelo
45 Cam York - 61 Justin Braun
79 Carter Hart
[33 Samuel Ersson]
TURNING POINT
The Flyers paid the price for two unnecessary penalties late in the second period. Only one was officially a power play goal for Toronto but both were costly. The Leafs went from down 1-0 to leading 2-1 at intermission. The Flyers never got the game back to even again.
MELTZER'S TAKE
1) The Flyers made the most out of having the game's first power play. They worked the puck around the perimeter and out to DeAngelo. DeAngelo found the net for a 1-0 lead at 4:17. Hayes and JVR earned the assists. Prior to the goal, the Maple Leafs had an early shorthanded chance by Mitchell Marner.
As the period progressed, Toronto had most of the puck possession but the Flyers did a good job defensively of pushing most of the play to the perimeter.
The Maple Leafs went on their first power play at 18:34 when Nic Deslauriers was called for holding. The Flyers did a good job in getting the game to intermission unscathed. The Leafs took 34 seconds of carryover PP time into the second period.
2) First period shots were 11-3 (21-13 in shot attempts) in Toronto's favor, which reflected how little attack Philadelphia generated. Howeve, high danger chances were only 3-2 in Toronto's favor.
3) The Maple Leafs came out attacking in the second period, racking up nine of the first 10 shots in fairly quick order. Kerfoot, Nylander and Matthews had prime scoring chances.
Ristolainen had a good look at the net on a 4-on-4. The teams then traded off unsuccessful power play opportunities.
The Flyers continued be hemmed in their own end for most of the period. It felt inevitable that Toronto was going to break through.
At 14:47, Farabee was called for holding Matthews after an extremely long delayed penalty. The Flyers were in good shape until they were unable to get control and regroup at the tail end of the kill. At 16:50, Järnkrok scored on a tip from the slot. The assists went to Marner and Pierre Engvall.
The Flyers went back to the PK at 19:10 as Ristolainen took an unnecessary holding penalty on Nylander. Thirteen seconds later, the Leafs had a 2-1 lead. Marner was credited with the goal, which may have gone off someone in front. The assists went to John Tavares and Nylander.
4) Second period shots on goal were 15-4 Toronto. Shot attempts were 25-11 Toronto. Scoring chances were 16-7 (9-1 high danger) in Toronto's favor. The first period was not quite as lopsided as the numbers looked. The second period, conversely, was every bit as tilted as the numbers look.
5) Just 33 seconds into the third period, Bunting had a virtual slam dunk to open a two-goal lead. The assists went to Matthews and Nylander.
Both teams got away with apparent penalties on the same shift. They played on. Farabee had a great scoring chance one-on-one against Samsonov but couldn't elevate it.
A couple minutes later, Sanheim created a scoring chance. On the next shift, Hayes was unable to get a puck in deep. No harm resulted.
The Flyers had a 61-second 5-on-3. PP1 was unable to generate much. With PP2 on the ice, Tippett had a scoring chance. It was Philly's lone shot.
Nylander scored a backhand goal to make it 4-1 at 13;39. The Leafs had a mismatch on the shift with their top line out against the Flyers' 4th line. The assists went to Giordano and Holl.
The Flyers made a late push. Frost found a seam, took a pass from DeAngelo and fired a shot past Samsonov at 12:01. Frost has scored a goal in three straight games.
At 13:24, TK and Frost started a goal sequence. Frost got the puck to Konecny. TK passed to Farabee, who found the next on a seemingly stoppable shot.
Sanheim started a near tying goal sequence that Farabee wasn't quite able to finish off.
The Flyers pulled Hart for an extra attacker. Frosr had a chance to tie the game. With 1:10 left, Timothy Liljegren took an awful cross-checking penalty on Tippett.
Philly had a 6-on-4 power play. Farabee took an elbowing penalty on Brodie. A late point shot by DeAngelo did not find the net.
