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After finishing a successful October, the Philadelphia Flyers opened up November with a proverbial dud.
Leafs winger Nick Robertson scored a goal and assist in leading Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-2 victory over Philadelphia on Saturday. The loss snapped Philadelphia’s three game winning streak at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Despite taking an initial lead 1:09 into the game, the Flyers were unable to keep the Leafs in check following an Auston Matthews goal to tie the game. After that, the Flyers struggled to generate much offense at all. The Leafs were able to impose themselves physically and seemingly sap their energy.
Flyers Game Summary
First Period
Center Christian Dvorak opened the scoring when he got a very quick centering pass from Nikita Grebenkin. The Flyers center was able to fire the puck high glove side past Anthony Stolarz to stake the Flyers to a 1-0 lead. It was Dvorak’s third goal of the season.
However, the Leafs responded at 6:16 when Matthews tied the game at 1-1 with his sixth goal of the season. Following a hard shot by defenseman Morgan Rielly that deflected off of Tyson Foerster’s left ankle, the Leafs’ captain fired a hard wrist shot that beat Vladar.
Emboldened, Toronto continued to buzz around the Flyers zone with continual pressure. Winger Travis Konecny was called for a double minor late in the period. Fortunately the Flyers’ fourth ranked penalty killing unit was able to kill it off.
Second Period
In the second period, Philadelphia paid the price for passing up too many shooting opportunities, as the Leafs took advantage.
Toronto took a 2-1 lead when defenseman Jake McCabe fired a fluttering point shot through a screen. The puck eluded Vladar as winger Dakota Joshua passed in front of him.
Later, after the Flyers put pressure in the offensive zone, the Leafs mounted a quick counter rush as Philadelphia was in the midst of a line change. Winger Nick Robertson fired a hard wrist shot near the circles that beat Vladar cleanly to give the Leafs a two goal lead at 17:34.
Third Period
The Leafs padded their lead 33 seconds into the third period when Easton Cowan scored his first NHL goal. Following a neutral zone turnover by Jamie Drysdale, John Tavares knifed into the Flyers zone, then found the streaking Cowan in the slot.
Consequently, the goal chased Vladar who finished with 15 saves on 19 shots and gave call-up Aleksei Kolosov his first NHL action of the season.
Philadelphia began to press offensively and thought they cut the Leafs lead in half when Rodrigo Abols thought he scored on a deflection. However, the goal was disallowed the referees ruled that his stick was over the cross bar.
In a scary moment during the third period, Toronto defenseman Chris Tanev had to be stretchered off the ice after colliding with winger Matvei Michkov. As a result, he was called for interference on Tanev, who fell to the ice and stayed down as medical personnel tended to him.
Finally, Tyson Foerster broke through on the power-play to get the Flyers back within two goals. After getting a backhand pass from Trevor Zegras, he rifled a hard one-timer past Stolarz at 16:08 for his fourth goal of the season.
However, Toronto closed things out with an empty net goal by Calle Jarnkrok to earn their first road win of the season.
3 Takeaways, Powered by Phans of Philly
1. Injury concern with two-thirds of Cates line.
Foerster took a point blank shot to his left ankle in the first period. He skated gingerly at time during the second period and did not have normal burst over longer distance for most of the game. Brink was boarded by Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the third period and did not return to play.
Considering how the line he plays on has been a trigger for the Flyers early season success, losing either for any length of time will be a blow.
2. The Flyers power-play had an uneven outing, going one for six.
On some shifts, their puck movement was fantastic in generating scoring chances. One such example included Trevor Zegras hitting double iron on a wrist shot. Others including a near one for Matvei Michkov as an Owen Tippett pass to the goal mouth floated just beyond his stick.
However, the results are what they are.
3. The Trevor Zegras center experiment continues to be a work in progress.
While they were moments where his offensive creativity was on display, he was mauled at the face-off dot, going two for 14 for the night. Once Sean Couturier returns to the line-up, expect that he will remain in the hybrid winger role.
Additionally, it was not the best of nights for his line-mates either, as Zegras, Michkov, and Owen Tippett finished a combined minus-eight as a unit.
