Feb. 9: Leafs 3 at Flyers 4
(Luke Schenn watches his brother Brayden score game-winner)
Leafs scorers: Bozak 2 (12), Lupul (22)
Flyers scorers: Hartnell (26), Talbot (13), Giroux (21), Schenn (6)
Links: Box Score | Discussion boards
Forward lines:Lupul-Bozak-Kessel, Lombardi-Connolly-Crabb, Kulemin-Grabovski-MacArthur, Armstrong-Steckel-Brown
Defence pairings: Phaneuf-Gunnarsson, Liles-Franson, Gardiner-Schenn
Goaltenders: Reimer (Loss 58:13 minutes played, 35 saves, 4 GA), Gustavsson (0:00)
Recap
Two nights ago, the Leafs put forth a solid three-period against Winnipeg, but couldn’t hit the net.
Thursday night in Philadelphia, the team beat Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky three times. But they didn’t give a sixty-minute effort.
The end result was a 4-3 loss at Wells Fargo Center, Toronto’s second consecutive regulation time defeat. With wins by playoff suitors Ottawa, Florida, and down-but-not-out Winnipeg, the collar around coach Ron Wilson’s neck gets that much tighter.
The first period was ultimately the Leafs undoing, mustering only five shots on goal compared with Philadelphia’s 16 fired at James Reimer in between the pipes for Toronto. Escaping with just a 1-0 deficit was actually a stroke of fortune for the Leafs.
The opening goal was scored by Scott Hartnell, who punctuated the tally by fighting Dion Phaneuf, likely the end result of a tussle that was instigated sometime during the All-Star game a couple of weekends ago when the Flyers forward was heard taunting the Leafs captain.
Tyler Bozak equaled the score early in the second frame when his centering attempt deflected off the skate of Braydon Coburn. It would be the first of two goals on the night for Bozak, who has now scored four times in as many games.
After Maxime Talbot and Joffrey Lupul traded goals, the Flyers struck twice in a span of 74 seconds. Philadelphia’s top line of Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell and Jaromir Jagr combined to put the home side up 3-2. Then, Leafs defenceman Luke Schenn’s clearing attempt was picked off by Danny Briere whose initial shot rebounded to Luke’s sibling Brayden, who beat Reimer for what turned out to be the game-winning goal.
Toronto exhibited a poor effort in attempting to clear their zone, with each of the Flyers first three scoring plays coming as a result of Philadephia’s defencemen holding the blueline and getting a point shot through for either a tip or rebound. Jake Gardiner, who along with Lupul celebrated his one-year anniversary of becoming a Leaf, had a particularly regrettable second period as did his defence partner Schenn.
A bright spot for the blue and white was extending their consecutive penalty killing streak to 28 opportunities over 17 games.
The Leafs now return home for Hockey Day In Canada where they will be hotly contested by the rival Montreal Canadiens. As has been repeated many times, standings don’t matter whenever these two teams are involved.
Plus, the Habs will be riding the hot stick of Scott Gomez.
