Flyers vs Maple Leafs: A Terrible Defeat That Crushes Playoff Hopes

The Philadelphia Flyers returned to action one night after a 5-2 defeat to the Washington Capitals. Jakub Voracek was available after serving his unjustified 2 game suspension, and he made his mark on the game early. The Flyers started this game how a team who just played 24 hours ago, tired.

1st Period

For the majority of the first half, it was slow game as the Maple Leafs or Philadelphia Flyers produced any real chances. This seemed to all change after a penalty from Phil Myers of the Flyers which is when Brian Elliott went full savior mode. After an epic sequence of rapid-fire shots from the Maple Leafs, the Flyers took advantage of being the top face-off team in the NHL.

With 7 minutes left in the 1st period, a face-off win directly to a Jakub Voracek shot gave the Flyers their first goal of the game. From then it was a lot of consistent Flyers attempt until the last 3 minutes off a Travis Sanhiem (off course) penalty. After multiple failed attempts to clear the puck (sound familiar), Toronto took advantage, and they got on the board after a Patrick Marleau deflection to make it 1-1. Then, less than a minute later the Maple Leafs scored again off an Auston Matthews goal but it was ruled no good due to a net dislodge. The Flyers got away with a huge break as by definition it shouldn’t have been ruled back yet this seemed very unfair for Toronto (but who’s complaining). Giroux got a breakaway late in the period but before he could shoot he was chased down as the puck was knocked away from him.

2nd Period

The Flyers started the 2nd period with a goal off a great deflection from JVR, as he was able to maneuver the puck through the air and misdirect it to make it 2-1 Flyers. There might have been some motivation for JVR heading into this game after the Flyers disappointing first meet-up with the Maple Leafs. After the goal, Flyers defensemen Radko Gudas had a holding call against him to give Toronto their 3rd power-play of the night. A great penalty kill gave the team some momentum after the chance concluded. Giroux, in the middle of the period, took the puck behind the net where he centered it right for JVR for his second goal of the night to make it 3-1.

Though only a matter of minutes later the Maple Leafs were able to score off an open opportunity from Zach Hyman made it 3-2. The Flyers were able to score two straight goals after, with the first from a Flyers face-off win which lead to a Gudas goal. The second was scored right after as Shayne Gostisbehere hammered home an open shot off a rebound attempt. As the Flyers had a 5-2 lead, the Maple Leafs started their comeback. Toronto scored courtesy of Jake Muzzin as he had a very good wrist shot that beat goalie Elliott.

The Maple Leafs continued to put the pressure on when Muzzin put in another wrist hand shot that put the score at 5-4 Flyers. Philadelphia was handed a power-play at the end of the period where it seemed as Toronto dominated the majority of the time. This period could have been the game for the Flyers, yet they let the Maple Leafs crawl back and make for a very important 2nd period.

3rd Period

After an extremely high scoring 2nd period the 3rd only brought more. Following a terrible power-play opportunity from the Flyers, they flat-out crumbled. Toronto got a goal off a deflection from Robert Hagg which led to a 5-5 tie. A penalty on Voracek four minutes into the period gave the Flyers a chance to show their penalty kill abilities where they held off Toronto.

Soon after the Flyers got a power play off Toronto’s “Too many men on the ice” mistake, which turned into nothing. Then, the Maple Leafs scored of an Matthews goal that made it 6-5. Matthews would strike again as he scored by cutting through the middle of the ice and gave the Maple Leafs a 7-5 lead. With only 2 minutes left, the Flyers would not go down looking, as JVR finished his hat-trick performance to cut the lead to 7-6. It was just too little too late for the Flyers as they fell to the Maple Leafs by the same score. What seemed like a guaranteed win, turned into a terrible defeat. Philadelphia’s playoff hopes are basically done after this game, but never say never I guess.

The Flyers are now 34-29-8 on the season. Next game is Sunday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.