William Nylander scores twice as Flyers offensive woes continue in shutout loss

For the first time since Saturday’s win over the Washington Capitals, the Flyers took to the ice to play a hockey game. Back home for a short span of time, Philadelphia welcomed in the Maple Leafs. It was Toronto who took it to them as Jack Campbell posted a 36-save shutout in a 3-0 Leafs victory. William Nylander potted two goals to lead the way as well.

Despite not having John Tavares in the lineup, the Leafs were just fine at creating momentum and opportunities. While the Flyers outnumbered them in power-play opportunities in the first, it was Toronto who probably had the better chances between the two teams. Philadelphia’s special teams’ units looked completely out of sync every time they were on the ice.

Philadelphia was able to generate some looks and even had a shorthanded chance as well as some breakaway opportunities. Campbell had some trouble with his rebound control early on but the Flyers were able to attack him on that. On the other side of the puck, Carter Hart continued to ooze confidence. He was seeing the puck well and was staying square to the shooter. That is exactly what Philadelphia wanted to see from their young goaltender.

William Nylander was finally able to break through Hart, albeit on a potentially controversial play. The refs originally deemed his goal to be a kicking motion but upon further review, the call was changed. It was deemed that the puck actually deflected off his skate and went into the net. You be the judge of that one.

The Flyers finally started to buzz in the latter half of the second period but were still unable to cash in on any of their chances. It looked like throughout the game that the defense was looking for opportunities to activate low in the zone as well. That was particularly evident when Sean Couturier tried to thread the needle to Justin Braun near the right faceoff dot.

Keith Yandle, who looked good to start his Flyers career, had some disastrous turnovers that resulted in quality opportunities for the Leafs. No doubt he will be sure to thank Hart after this game for bailing him out on them.

Nylander would score another one, this time a no-doubter as he ripped one from the slot that beat Hart cleanly. The Flyers goaltender had made a great save seconds prior on a tic-tac-toe play from Toronto. Nylander has now scored seven goals in 13 career games against the Flyers. He certainly enjoys playing in Philadelphia.

Ondrej Kase put the dagger in this one shortly after the Leafs’ power play ended late in the third. Toronto won a race to the puck and Alexander Kerfoot, from behind the net, centered one in the slot for Kase who wasted no time in potting Toronto’s third of the game.

A common theme from watching the game and from the players afterward was that the Flyers’ power play took away any possible momentum from them. As Claude Giroux said, it’s okay if you don’t score if you can generate momentum from the man advantage. Unfortunately, the Flyers couldn’t quite do that.

Things won’t get easier as Philadelphia is heading to Carolina to take on a 10-1-0 Hurricanes team. Frederick Andersen has been phenomenal in net so the Flyers will need to work that much harder to find their scoring touch once more.