Philadelphia Flyers display atrocious effort in 6-0 loss vs Toronto

The Philadelphia Flyers were looking for their second consecutive win as they went to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs.

Entering the game with a win in their last contest, the Philadelphia Flyers hoped to replicate that shutout performance against the Maple Leafs in Toronto.

Calvin Pickard deservingly got his second straight start in-net for the Flyers and opposed Garret Sparks. Sparks had a 3-1-0 record coming into the matchup, with a 3.20 Goals-Against Average and a .906 save percentage. Philadelphia needed to put puck on Sparks early, as he hadn’t played in a game in over a week before this start.

Toronto got off to a great start, scoring the game’s first goal less than five minutes in on a shot from Andreas Johnsson. Pickard didn’t look too confident early on, struggling with his rebound control as well. Johnsson scored his second goal of the evening just two minutes later on a breakaway attempt he created with his speed. Patrick Marleau went on and scored the Maple Leafs third goal in just under eight minutes, and the Flyers again dug themselves an early hole being down 3-0.

The goals didn’t stop as Johnsson netted a first period hat-trick and put the Leafs up 4-0. Pickard allowed four goals on just six shots and was pulled for Anthony Stolarz after the fourth goal scored. The Flyers defense didn’t do him any favors, getting out hustled for nearly every puck battle on the ice.

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Stolarz was tested with a couple of dangerous scoring chances throughout the remainder of the period, but stood his ground for Philadelphia. It was pleasantly surprising to see Stolarz look good on the first few shots he saw, given he came into the game cold off the bench.

The Flyers continued to surrender odd-man rushes in the second period and it once again came back to bite them. Josh Levio scored the Maple Leafs fifth goal of the game off a give-and-go pass from Mitch Marner and kept pressuring Philadelphia in their own zone. It was clear the Flyers didn’t bring any defensive effort to this game, surrendering another goal off a shot from John Tavares and faced a six goal deficit after 40 minutes of play.

The teams traded scoring chances in the third, but neither could find the back of the net as the game ended 6-0.

Yes, this team was playing the second half of back-to-back games but there is absolutely no excuse for a loss like this. I’d go as far to say this was the Flyers worst all-around performance of the season. The team defense was terrible in yet another game and was arguably just as bad as Pickard was in-net.

The Flyers are now 10-11-2 on the season. Next game is Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators. Hopefully, Philadelphia decides to show up for this one.